India's spin ploy pays off
The ploy of having a diverse spin attack in the Champions Trophy once again clicked for India, this time in the all-important final against New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium today.
It did not come as a surprise when India named a spin-heavy squad for the tournament as they were scheduled to play all of their matches in Dubai where surfaces are more conducive to spin, as opposed to the ones in Pakistan, where other teams were scheduled to play except for the games against India.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. For their first two matches, against Bangladesh and archrivals Pakistan, India had the same three-ponged spin attack of left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja alongside chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.
India opted to crank their spin ploy up a notch, adding mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy alongside the aforementioned three from their last Group A game against New Zealand. Varun made an instant impact, claiming a career-best 5-42 in the final group game.
India went with the same spin quartet in yesterday's final as well. However, for a while, it seemed as if their spin-ploy would finally backfire when New Zealand openers Rachin Ravindra and Will Young put up a quick 57-run opening stand after India skipper Rohit Sharma lost a record-equaling 12 tosses in a row.
The wicket of Sunday's final was previously used during India's match against Pakistan on February 23, and during that game, spinners got a decent amount of purchase from the surface.
With spinners on Sunday extracting very little turn, it looked like the Black Caps were heading towards a big total in the final.
According to broadcasters, the average turn was only 2.0 degrees on Sunday during New Zealand innings, the lowest in all five matches played so far in Dubai. The opening match between Bangladesh and India here witnessed a 3.5-degree turn -- the highest in the tournament -- while the second semifinal against Australia saw an average turn of 2.7 degrees.
But the Indian spinners quickly adjusted to the condition, bowling with extra pace at stumps. The result was evident as the four spinners combined to account for five wickets in 38 overs, conceding just 144 runs.
Introduced in the first Powerplay, Varun, just in his second over, gave India the first breakthrough, trapping Young in front for 15.
Kuldeep then joined the party by taking two quick wickets – those of Rachin (37) and Kane Williamson (11). Jadeja removed Tom Latham (14), and suddenly the momentum of the game had changed, with the Black Caps reduced to 108 for four in the 24th over.
When Glenn Phillips (34) was trying to build a partnership with Daryl Mitchell (63), Varun once again hit back by castling the former to put India on top in the contest in front of the sea of blue in the Dubai gallery.
Axar might have finished wicketless, but his economical bowling saw him build the pressure on the Kiwis as he gave away just 29 in his eight overs.
26 of the 47 wickets claimed by Indian bowlers in the tournament were scalped by spinners -- a fact that sums up how spinners were pivotal in India's bid to regain the Champions Trophy title for first time after 2013.
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