'We were watching ILT20 which was played here and we thought the slower bowlers will be a lot more helpful here.'
Skipper Rohit Sharma struck down the notion of India having an unfair advantage in the Champions Trophy due to playing all their matches in Dubai, saying it is not their "home venue" and the pitches here have thrown up "different challenges" to his side.
Several former players from Pakistan, Australia and England have taken an exception to India staying in Dubai for the entire duration of the ICC showpiece, saying the move allowed them better chance to acclimatise to the conditions than other teams in Group A.
"Every time, the pitch is giving you different challenges. The three matches that we played here, the pitch has behaved differently. This is not our home, this is Dubai. We don't play so many matches here, and this is new for us too," Rohit said during the pre-match press meet ahead of the semifinal against Australia.
Rohit said his side needs to adapt to the surface quickly during the last-four match against the Aussies.
"There are four or five surfaces that are being used here. See, I don't know which pitch is going to be played in the semifinals. But whatever happens, we will have to adapt and see what is happening and what is not. And we will play on that," he added.
Rohit cited India's last Group A match against New Zealand here on Sunday to emphasize his point.
"We saw that when the (New Zealand) bowlers were bowling, it was swinging a little bit. We did not see it in the first two games when our bowlers were bowling. In the last game, we did not get to see that much spin, today there was a bit of it.
"So, there are different things happening on every surface. So, it is not like we know what is going to happen on this pitch and what is not going to happen," he said.
The Mumbaikar said a pitch with some assistance for the bowlers would make the contest all the more exciting.
"If there is something in it for the bowlers as well, that makes it very, very interesting. I am one for it. When you have surfaces which are challenging, whether it's with spin or with the seam, you want to have that. You want a good contest," he said.
Rohit also vindicated the selection of five spinners in the India squad for the marquee event saying they had some awareness about the pitches in Dubai because they were monitoring the ILT20 here.
"Looking at the surface here, hearing about what has happened in Dubai in the past two months, we somehow kind of knew that surfaces are going to be slow. We were watching ILT20 which was played here and we thought the slower bowlers will be a lot more helpful here.
"If need an extra batter then anyway Rishabh (Pant) is there. So, we thought with an extra option of the spin, there is always a chance that we can play those guys," he said.
The 37-year-old said reaching Dubai well in advance helped the team to “adapt” to the conditions.
"It was important for us to adapt quickly to these conditions. Luckily, we came here five or six days before, we had good training sessions and the pitches at the (ICC) Academy were very much similar to what we are going to get here.
"So, the adaptation is the key when you play on any surface and we adapted pretty well in all three games," he added.
India's top three — Rohit, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill — had an off-game against New Zealand, leaving the side reeling at 30 for three. But Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya batted well to take India to a defendable total.
Rohit said middle-order batters getting runs was important for the team during the business end of the tournament.
“The middle-order is very experienced but to just get some batting time in the middle and to get those runs and get that fighting total was very very important from our standpoint.
“Shreyas, KL, Hardik and Axar, they batted brilliantly which is a good sign for us going into the semis because we wanted to have these kind of situations where we are slightly under pressure and then the middle-order takes us through to that target which they did,” he said.
Rohit also praised Axar for repaying the think tank's faith in him while promoting to No. 5 ahead of KL Rahul.
“The clear message was given to him when we started the ODI series against England. That no matter what, you will bat at No. 5. The kind of improvement he has shown with the bat over the last year or so is superb and that is where we felt that we can utilise him in the middle.
“He likes to take the game on, likes to play his shots. And sometimes when you are in trouble, you want to always take that positive route. He showed it in the T20 World Cup final (2024) which was a very, very crucial knock,” he added.
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