New Zealand have also already qualified for the semi-finals and Sunday’s match will decide the Group A topper.
“We’ve had two pretty tough training sessions, so that’s been the preparation,” ten Doeschate said. “In terms of the bench strength, I think the priority is making sure that we have our best guys available and fully fit for the second game [the semi-final on March 4].
“But we also don’t want to rest them for another two days [India have had a week off]. So to get that balance right, we might just try to share the bowling out a little bit. But we obviously want to win against New Zealand as well. It’s important that we keep that momentum going and obviously to top the group as well. So the balance of those two things I just mentioned [is] to be thought about.”
Ten Doeschate also said he was happy with the rest his players have had since their last game against Pakistan on February 23.
“They’ve had a lot of rest now. But it’s how you back the two games up. So if all the seamers are going to bowl 10 overs, and then say we bowl second in the first game, we’re bowling 36 hours later, we’re bowling first, that’s quite a workload.
“So that’s what I was alluding to. One of the options is to make sure the guys don’t bowl their full quota of overs, if that opportunity allows itself. But we’re ready to manage that in the field and try and keep the guys as fresh as possible for the first and the final.”
Doeschate admitted that Sunday’s match could be a contest of spin. “They [New Zealand] have [many] spinners as well, so it could be a contest of spin,” he said.
“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 here.”
“KL has been good. He didn’t get many chances… [But] we’ve got to keep Rishabh up and running. We never know when we’re going to need him. But certainly to have two wicketkeepers of that calibre is a nice thing to have.”
On whether scoring has been difficult on the Dubai pitch, he said, “I won’t say difficult. I think we’ve become used to a standard where you score 320 without thinking too much about it. [Here] getting to 320 has been difficult.
“The pitch has played slightly differently, in my opinion, in those two games [against Bangladesh and Pakistan]. But they are probably like 280-290 pitches if you bat really well. So in the bigger picture, yeah, 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 right about 280-290, judging from the first two pitches.”
