By Karan Agrawal 
The Final of the Champions Trophy is less than 24 hours away, and the most talked-about thing in the last few days has been the pitch that will be used for the all-important game. A report in Cricbuzz reads that the same pitch used for the India- Pakistan match will be used for the final on March 9. If we talk about that particular pitch, the surface in question was sluggish and slow, with batters finding it difficult to time the ball. If the conditions remain the same for the final, then spinners from both sides will play a crucial role in the outcome of the match. If we talk about the composition, both India and New Zealand comprise of quality spin attack with the likes of Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell holding fort for New Zealand with support from Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra. On the other hand is the Indian spin quartet of Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja, who could come in handy with his accurate left-arm spin.
Coach’s Corner
Talking about the conditions at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium ( DICS), India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, said, “In every match, the wicket changes slightly. As a batting coach, how do you assess our batsmen’s ability to adapt? While the wicket does change a bit, its overall nature hasn’t shifted much. However, the batting has been excellent. And secondly, we’ve been fortunate to get solid starts, and on occasions when those starts were lacking, the middle order stepped up,” the batting coach remarked before the start of India’s nets at the ICC Academy on Friday (March 7).
The Role
If the pitch behaves as speculated, then a player who can play a crucial role for India and is not being talked about much as a bowler is all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The 2024 T20 World Cup winner has done a decent job with the new ball and has played a crucial role as a frontline pacer by chipping in with important wickets in different phases of the innings.