India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate believed the T20 World Cup holders had reached the stage where talking about adaptability is no longer enough after another disappointing overseas T20I series.
India slumped to their second successive bilateral series defeat after losing the fourth T20I to England on Thursday, extending a poor run that began with a series loss in Ireland. Reflecting on the team’s struggles, ten Doeschate said India now needed to better understand what adapting to overseas conditions actually requires.
“We’ve spoken so much about adaptability, but I think it’s got to the point now where you actually have to unpack that suitcase,” he said.
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“It’s easy to say we need to adapt. Every coach from under-nine cricket upwards talks about adaptability. But I think it’s got to the point where we actually have to unpack what that means and understand the process that’s needed.”
He admitted India had failed to translate those conversations into performances.
“I think Jofra (Archer) and Tongue bowled exceptionally well. We haven’t made an adjustment,” he said.
“As much as we’ve spoken about it, as much as we’ve spoken about the need to evolve and what works in India won’t necessarily work here, we just haven’t quite managed to shift from that mindset that we’ll be really strong on really good wickets.”
“The little adjustments needed to play on wickets that have all been slightly slower and had a little bit of bounce—we just haven’t made them.”
India’s top order has repeatedly struggled against pace bowling and against back-of-a-length deliveries throughout the Ireland and England tours, with England exposing those shortcomings once again.
Despite the setbacks, ten Doeschate insisted the management would continue backing the core group that lifted the T20 World Cup just four months ago.
“We own the performance. They’ve been really poor. But the majority of those guys won a World Cup four months ago.”
“It’s really important to keep taking learnings from these games, keep trusting the players and giving them a bit of runway given what they’ve done for the country in the past.”
The assistant coach said the management was already looking towards the next T20 World Cup in Australia and had challenged the players to embrace uncomfortable conditions.
“We’ve challenged the group to accept the fact that we are underachieving in foreign conditions.”
“The big prize is two years down the line in Australia. Do we want to be a team that smashes 250 in India and looks great hitting 80-metre sixes at Eden Gardens? Or do we want to be a team that excels in different conditions?”
Ten Doeschate also defended one of the management’s most scrutinised decisions this year – replacing Suryakumar Yadav as captain despite his leading India to the T20 World Cup title in March.
Suryakumar was replaced by Shreyas Iyer ahead of the Ireland and England tours and ten Doeschate said that there was a need to think ahead.
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“When you’re coaching a team like India, you have to forward-plan,” ten Doeschate said.
“Surya was a fantastic leader, but if you weigh up where he is age-wise and you’re looking ahead to two years down the line with Australia, you have to make some really tough calls.”
Acknowledging the criticism surrounding the transition, he added: “The optics aren’t very good.”
However, he urged patience with Iyer, pointing out that India were also without key players such as Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.
“We’ve got a different squad here with slightly different weapons.We also need to give Shreyas a little bit of time to grow into the role and for the players to adapt to his captaincy style.”
Ten Doeschate praised the new captain’s approach despite India’s poor results.
“I’ve been really impressed with how he’s gone about things.He started really well, leading from the front with the bat, taking accountability and working tirelessly to make the improvements we’ve all been speaking about.I’m sure he’ll get his just rewards as his time as captain goes on.”