Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate openly admitted that Indian batsmen’s struggle with spin bowling has been affected by their strong desire to perform well in overseas matches. His main goal is to help them improve their spin-playing skills before a crucial season that includes five Test matches at home.
India, which has traditionally been good against spin, recently lost 27 wickets to Sri Lankan spin bowlers during a three-match ODI series, which India lost 0-2. This marked India’s first series loss to Sri Lanka in 27 years.
“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.”
Doeschate, a former all-rounder from the Netherlands with a lot of coaching experience, explained that playing spin is more about changing the players’ mindset rather than making big 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,” he said.
The 44-year-old Dutchman, who will work alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, mentioned that the team is eager to win the Champions Trophy next year.
“There’s the Champions Trophy. With only three ODIs left in preparation, 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,” he added.
Doeschate also highlighted that qualifying for the World Test Championship final in June next year is another key goal for Team India. Currently, India is at the top of the WTC table, with Australia closely following. He wants to use the 10 Tests India will play to strengthen their position.
