India’s newly appointed assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate admitted they got undone in Sri Lanka in the three-match series. The Dutchman is eager to improve Indian batters’ gameplay against the spinners.
Indian batters failed to bring their best against the Sri Lankan spinners as they failed to chase down scores 232, 241, and 249. The opening ODI ended in a tie but India lost the second game by 32 runs whereas lost the third match by a gargantuan margin of 110 runs.
Indian batters could not show much fight against the spin trio of Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, and Dunith Wellalage. The middle order failed to deliver the goods despite Rohit Sharma providing a brisk start.
Speaking to talkSport, via ESPN Cricinfo, “One of the challenges I wasn’t expecting and I kind of overlooked is the playing of spin by Indian batters. 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] that 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 again,” Ten Doeschate dadded.
Meanwhile, India is currently at the top of the World Test Championship standings with six wins in nine matches, with a PCT of 68.51. Doeschate said there are 10 Test matches remaining in the cycle and their aim to qualify for the third final on the bounce.
“It’s exciting and kind of daunting at the same time. In terms of what we’re looking forward to, qualifying for the WTC final [next June is a goal]. There’s a great opportunity with 10 Tests left, five in India [over the next couple of months] and then going to Australia [for five more at the end of 2024] is going to be great.”
India will next take on Bangladesh in a two-match Test series.
