New Delhi: Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Wednesday said that his immediate task would be to get the Indian batters back on track against spin. He admitted that the desire to do well oversees has dented the ability of the players to play against spin bowling and he will ensure to make them adept in it ahead of the all important season that features five Test matches at home.
In the last ODI series against Sri Lanka, Indian batters failed miserably against the Lankan spinners losing as many as 27 wickets to slow bowling and going down in the series 0-2. It was India’s first bilateral ODI series defeat against the Lankans in 27 years.
India got undone against Sri Lanka
In an interaction with Talksport Cricket, Doeschate said that the India team got undone against the Lankan side.
“We got undone against Sri Lanka. The mindset of India has been such that they’ve been so desperate to do well overseas,” Doeschate told Talksport Cricket. “The focus has moved to doing well in Australia and England. 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,” added Doeschate.
India is scheduled to face Bangladesh and New Zealand at home across five Test matches in September and October. Both these sides have handy spinners in their ranks.
Doeschate, a former Netherlands all-rounder with considerable coaching experience around the world, said playing spin is about making a mental shift rather than bringing about major technical changes.
“I don’t think much of what we’re going to bring is technical knowledge. It’s more about mindsets, situational awareness, and how we think they can control certain phases of the game.
“We need to throw ideas out there… de-briefing and keeping the mental space really good. That’s going to be really important,” he elaborated.
(With PTI inputs)
In the last ODI series against Sri Lanka, Indian batters failed miserably against the Lankan spinners losing as many as 27 wickets to slow bowling and going down in the series 0-2. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today