ICC Champions Trophy final: Every batter contributed to team’s cause in its run to final, says Sitanshu Kotak

India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak praises team's all-round batting performance, dismisses advantage of playing in Dubai.

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak was pleased that every batter contributed to the team’s cause in its run to the final and felt the side is well-prepared, having encountered different situations in the four games so far.

“The pitches change a bit obviously, but the overall tendency (slow nature) has not changed much. Our batting has been really good. Secondly, in four matches, batting first or second, we have got runs from openers, and when they didn’t, the middle-order has scored,” said Kotak ahead of India’s practice session on Friday (March 7, 2025).

“Till now, there has not been much need for power hitting, but that also happened in the last match,” he added referring to the way Hardik Pandya and K.L. Rahul rained sixes to close out the semifinal against Australia.

On the burning topic of India having an undue advantage of playing all its matches in Dubai, Kotak dismissed the assertion.

“I don’t understand what advantage we get from this (pitch). People feel that India got an advantage after we won the matches. I don’t know what to say about that. We just played to the draw.”

“I think in a game, you must play good cricket every day when you turn up. If you don’t play well, then you can’t complain. And if you play well, there is no point in saying whether you got an advantage or not.”

The former Suarashtra cricketer praised vice-captain Shubman Gill, whom he had worked with at the India A level.