While the India-New Zealand game will be a dead-rubber, this could be the one where spinners could steal the limelight, given the conditions at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS). However, India will play with at least three spinners in the playing XI – Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel. New Zealand could play with Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Philips and Rachin Ravindra.

“Yeah, I think so,” Ryan ten Doeschate said ahead of the match. “…and they’ll have four spinners as well, so it could be a contest of spin. I think coming into the competition, we weren’t expecting such an over-reliance on spin, but the guys have bowled nicely and the pitch has helped a little bit. So I’m sure it’s going to be the same for the next game.”

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“Look, I won’t say it’s difficult (scoring on the pitch). I think we’ve become used to a standard where you score 320 without thinking too much about it. So getting to 320 has been difficult, the pitch has played slightly differently in our opinion in those two games, but there were probably 280-290 pitches that you batted really well. So in the bigger picture, it’s not like playing in Pakistan where you expect to get 320-330, but you’ve got to adapt yourself and get a score that’s good on these wickets, and we think it’s around about 280-290 judging on the first two pitches,” the India assistant coach felt.

“So, the intense competition is slightly different to what the Indian competition is, from a pure numbers perspective, but we’ve got guys waiting in the wings that are definitely ready to be here and to perform. So, for us, we try not to think about that because we’re all in it together,” the New Zealand all-rounder remarked.