It's been very hard on Pant not playing: India assistant coach Doeschate

Dubai: India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has acknowledged that it's been really hard for ace wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant to be watching the ongoing Champions Trophy matches from the sidelines but "that's the nature of sport at this level".

Pant has not been a part of the playing XI in the last two group games, with India handing over the wicket-keeping duties to K L Rahul, who has performed remarkably well behind the stumps and provided solidity to the middle order.

"It's been very hard on Rishabh not playing. But that's the nature of sport at this level, Doeschate told reporters on Friday, when asked if having two quality keepers has been a good dilemma.

"KL has been good. He didn't get many chances... we've got to keep Rishabh up and running. We never know when we're going to need him. But certainly to have two wicket-keepers of that calibre is a nice thing to have." Doeschate admitted that Sunday's match against New Zealand could be a contest of spin between the two sides.

"...they (New Zealand) have four spinners as well, so it could be a contest of spin. 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 tomorrow." The South Africa-born former Dutch cricketer hinted that the team might ring in some changes in the bowling attack for its last group match against New Zealand.

At the same time, Doeschate said the side would not compromise on the balance as it also wants to top the group with an all-win preliminary campaign.

New Zealand have also already qualified for the semifinals after two wins and Sunday's match will decide the Group A topper.

"We've had two pretty tough training sessions, so that's been the preparation. 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 (semifinal on March 4)," Doeschate said.

"But we also don't want to rest them for another two days. 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 for the selection to be thought about," he added.

Asked about captain Rohit Sharma's fitness after an injury scare in the game against Pakistan, he said, "He's all right. You can see he's batting a little bit further than earlier. It's an injury he's had before, so he knows how to manage it really well." On whether scoring has been difficult on the pitch here, 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. So getting to 320 has been difficult.

"The pitch has played slightly differently, in my opinion, in those two games. But there are probably like 280-290 pitches if you batter 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 on the first two pitches." The India assistant coach also said that he is happy with the amount of rest his players have got 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," he said.