Defending champions India’s defeat to South Africa was so wholesome that whichever it’s looked at, there are campaign-ending flaws. It was a game where India’s skills, planning, execution and tactics backfired. India’s assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate was scathing in his assessment of the defeat. “When you set up or set out to win a World Cup, we don’t expect someone to come and deliver the World Cup to you halfway through the competition,” he said.
One bad day was bound to come, he said, while leaving them with little wriggle room but to win the next two games. “We understand we are probably allowed to mess up one game in this phase of the competition. We’ve messed up on a grand scale and now the onus is on this group of guys to turn around and put in two solid performances against Zimbabwe and West Indies. It’s going to need two big performances and a big bounce back from everyone involved,” he said.
Tactically, India erred in picking Washington Sundar over Axar Patel, an off-spinner to shackle the assertive southpaws such as Quinton de Kock and Ryan Ricketon. By the time Washington came to bowl, both had departed, inadvertently backfiring the purpose of his inclusion. “I guess the only way that it sort of didn’t play into our hands is that we did have the ideal start, getting Quinton and Rickelton out so early. We were kind of looking at matchups more in the middle. Then obviously, someone has to give way,” he explained.
He admitted that the left-handers struggling against the off-spinners, even part-time ones like Aiden Markram, has become a real concern. “In the five outings we’ve had now four teams opening with part-time off spin and it’s got a wicket every time.. So to start every innings at zero for one, is obviously putting pressure on the link players, Tilak (Varma and Suryakumar Yadav). Their role is to link up with the guys at the back end and it hasn’t gone that way,” he said.
The biggest dilemma, he emphasised, is whether to rip up the order, ring in the changes or persist with the batting order that has yielded them glowing results in the past. “So do you stick with the guys who we feel have performed really well over the last 18 months and who are maybe shy of a few runs now? Or do we twist and bring Sanju, who’s also a fantastic player and obviously helps tactically with having a right hander at the top of the order? I’m sure that’ll be a talking point over the next few days going into these two very important games,” he said.
He also criticised the over-dependence on a few players like Suryakumar, Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dube. “It is a concern that the bulk of the runs are coming from Ishan. Surya has been obviously very good and obviously Shivam. You’ve got four quality players there who haven’t delivered so far in this… Or up to this point in the competition. I certainly won’t make excuses for Abhi or Tilak, they don’t need excuses made for them,” he said.
“There’s no point talking about rhythm in nets or how guys are feeling or what they’re not feeling. It’s time to pull our sleeves up and get performance out of all the players and like I just said there, that’s the challenge for the staff along with the players now to regroup and put in a big effort leading up to the next game against Zimbabwe,” he added.
The biggest challenge, he emphasised, was to play on surfaces that had not been as flat as those that piled mammoth totals in the bilateral series leading up to the World Cup. “I think the biggest challenge to us is finding a way to play on wickets that are not typical to what we’re playing on,” he said.
Defensive bowling was another aspect that stymied India. “To have that strangle on South Africa, 30 for three, wherever they were, and then to sort of adopt a defensive bowling strategy, I thought that was a missed trick,” he said.
He also hinted at injudicious shot-making. “There was obviously a bit of hold in the wicket and when you lose Ishan in the first over and you’ve got three quality seamers like they do – I think again it needs a little bit of assessment and application,” he said.
“It’s a fine line between putting the reins and stopping guys from playing the way they play but I think it’s come to the point now where the intervention of saying guys there’s different ways to go about a chase, even setting a score. And like I say, we’ve spoken about it a lot, but we haven’t implemented it across the board and I think that’s cost us in some of the performances with the bats so far,” he said.
