India, Feb. 28 -- At the start of the Champions Trophy, Dubai was being seen as a spin paradise where Indian spinners would run through opposition batting line-ups, or, at the very least, stifle run-scoring. But on evidence of the two matches India have played here, things have not been that straightforward.

India have played the unchanged trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in both their matches so far. They went wicketless against Bangladesh all through the middle overs. Even against Pakistan, the three wickets that Yadav got came after the 40 overs phase, when the batters were under pressure to raise the scoring rate.

India's spin-heavy squad composition for the tournament came expecting the spinners to be the prima...