As noticed during the last week of the IPL, all three venues in the UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah) witnessed dew having an impact in the latter half of every game.
No wonder then that of the first seven Super 12 matches in the T20 World Cup, six have seen teams that batted first walking away with full points. The trend is similar to Indian conditions, where the appearance of dew effectively makes a captain winning the toss having no qualms in electing to field.
“Yes, toss definitely is going to be a factor in this tournament. If the dew keeps creeping in in the latter half the game, you need those extra runs in the first half,” India captain Virat Kohli said after the loss to Pakistan last Sunday.
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Various factors
The last thing that a World Cup requires is the toss dictating results of games. But a combination of sticky surfaces, the dew making an impact only in the second innings, and the match timings adjusted primarily to suit television viewership in the Indian sub-continent, has resulted in teams being forced to plan strategies around the dew and toss.
“A bit of dew is something we saw at the back-end of the IPL, as also a number of different factors that come with the conditions. We were aware of that going into it,” Williamson said after the Black Caps went down to Pakistan in Sharjah on Tuesday.
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New Zealand, in fact, came closest to defending a target after Afghanistan’s crushing win against Scotland earlier in the week. However, Pakistan’s big-hitters saw the team through.
South Africa, on the other hand, restricted the West Indies power-hitters in Dubai on Tuesday and then chased down the target comfortably in a day game, when the dew wasn’t a factor at all.
“The wickets are not particularly flat. They offer something for the bowlers,” pacer Kagiso Rabada had said ahead of the game.
It seems that all teams will have to adapt to the dew factor.