One of Team India’s newly appointed assistant coaches, Ryan ten Doeschate believes that his imminent challenge will be to address India’s susceptibility against spin bowling that has surfaced recently.
While speaking to TalkSport Cricket, ten Doeschate admitted that he wasn’t expecting spin to be an area of concern for the India batters but his mindset has changed ever since they “got undone in Sri Lanka”.
India conceded 27 wickets to spin during their recent three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka - the most wickets lost by any team against spinners in a bilateral men's ODI series of four or fewer matches.
Dunith Wellalage was at the forefront of the damage done as he became the first spinner to bag multiple five-wicket hauls against India in ODI history.
Wellalage (seven wickets) alongside leg-break bowler Jeffrey Vandersay broke the back of India’s batting order and guided Sri Lanka to their first bilateral series win over India since 1997.
Ten Doeschate thinks that the desperation to do well in overseas conditions has kind of cost India’s preparedness against spin-bowling and it would require a conscious effort to make Indians “the best players of spin in the world again”.
"The mindset of India has been such that they've been so desperate to do well overseas," ten Doeschate said. "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."
The former Dutch international is aware of the fact that with multiple marquee tournaments on the horizon, the challenges for this Indian side are going to be huge but he is excited to be a part of the journey and is looking forward to chipping in with crucial contributions.
"It's exciting and kind of daunting at the same time," he said. "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.
"Then in the medium term there's the Champions Trophy (in February 2025). With only three ODIs left in the prep phase, it's going to be really challenging to switch between the formats and get the team ready for that, which again is something they're desperate to win.
"Then in the next (WTC) cycle, the tour to England (summer of 2025) is going to be fantastic and then prepping the team for the (2026) T20 World Cup. In terms of timing, it's quite difficult to walk into a team that's just come back with the (2024 T20) World Cup, but in terms of what's ahead for the next 18 months, it's mouth-watering as a coach. It's all the series you want to be involved in and all the challenges you want to come up against."
