The way Team India batsmen capitulated against Sri Lankan spinners in the recent ODI series in Colombo had left Ryan ten Doeschate surprised. The current India assistant coach, in a recent interview to TalkSport, minced no words to acknowledge he hadn’t expected such a struggle, especially as India have traditionally been known as good players of spin.
As many as 27 of the 30 Indian wickets in the ODIs against Sri Lanka fell off the bowling of the spinners, which reflected serious problems of the senior batters as well as the youngsters against the turning ball. However, Ten Doeschate is ready to find a remedy for the current Indian batting line-up to tackle opposition spinners.
“One of the challenges I wasn’t expecting and I kind of overlooked is the playing of spin by Indian batters,” Ten Doeschate told TalkSport Cricket. “We got undone in Sri Lanka.
“The mindset of India has been such that they’ve been so desperate to do well overseas. The focus has moved to doing well in Australia, England. So, we’ve kind of let playing spin, which was always a strength of the Indian team, fall back a little bit.
“That’s one thing I’m looking forward to helping with, getting to that position where Indians are the best players of spin in the world once again,” the Dutchman explained.
In his role with Team India, Ten Doeschate’s focus would largely be on preparation rather than being too technical. “It’s more about mindsets, situational awareness and how we think they can control certain phases of the game.
“It’s about throwing ideas out there, de-briefing and keeping the mental space really good.”
Despite a start that wasn’t quite ideal, Ten Doeschate, working in the coaching staff led by his former Kolkata Knight Riders captain and colleague Gautam Gambhir, is aware of the challenges of taking over a team that won a World Cup (T20 World Cup in June) not too long ago. He's also excited about what lies ahead for this side.
“In terms of what we’re looking forward to, qualifying for the WTC (World Test Championship) final next year is surely one goal," he said.
