Ryan ten Doeschate, the assistant coach of the Indian cricket team, has openly acknowledged that the Indian batsmen's focus on performing well abroad has negatively impacted their ability to play spin bowling. He has identified this as a crucial area to address before the upcoming domestic season, which includes five crucial Test matches at home. India, known for their strength against spin bowling, faced difficulties against Sri Lankan spinners during the recent three-match ODI series away. They lost 27 wickets to spin, ultimately losing the series 0-2. This marked India's first bilateral ODI series defeat against 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. 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,” Doeschate added.
India is set to host Bangladesh and New Zealand for five Test matches each in September and October. Both these teams possess skilled spin bowlers.
Ryan ten Doeschate, a former Netherlands all-rounder with extensive coaching experience globally, believes that mastering spin bowling is more about a mental shift than significant technical adjustments.
"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 further added.
The 44-year-old Dutchman, who will be working alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, expressed the team's strong desire to win the Champions Trophy in the coming year.
"There's the Champions Trophy (February 2025). 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," Doeschate said.
Doeschate stated that qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June of the following year is another significant objective for Team India.
At present, India are at the top of the WTC table, closely followed by Australia. Doeschate expressed his desire to utilize the 10 upcoming Test matches that India are scheduled to play to solidify their strong position.
“In terms of what we're looking forward to... qualifying for the WTC final... there's a great opportunity with 10 Tests left. We have five (Tests) in India and then we are going to Australia (for another five Tests), which is going to be great”
Doeschate admitted that joining the Indian cricketing set up was a challenging endeavor, especially following their recent victory in the T20 World Cup in June.
"In terms of timing (his appointment), it's quite difficult to walk into a team that's just come back with the (T20) World Cup. But in terms of what's ahead of us 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," he concluded.
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