India need to tackle top-order predictability, finger spin struggles

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has acknowledged two pressing issues facing the team heading into the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup: the predictability of the left-handed top order and the batters’ struggles against finger spinners. Speaking to select media after the win over the Netherlands in their final league fixture, Doeschate said the overwhelming title contenders have not played a perfect game yet.

With India’s top three being left-handers, including Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, he also conceded that it has made it easier for opposition teams to plan against them. Rival teams have been employing off-spinners in the powerplay to contain the top order comprising Sharma, who has not scored a run in the tournament so far after being in the form of his life not so long ago.

Netherlands off-spinner Aryan Dutt bowled three overs in the powerplay on Wednesday and removed Sharma and Kishan. Doeschate feels India don’t have an off-spin issue per se, and it is the overall play against the finger spinners that needs major improvement. The home team will need to find a way to deal with finger spinners in their Super 8 games against South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies.

“It has (made it easier for teams to plan against India). We don’t have many options (in the top three). We’ve got Sanju sitting on the side, and we feel on balance, particularly with the games coming up. If we look at what finger spin is, we are going to come up against New Zealand.

“We’ve got a few guys who bowl finger spin, and so do the West Indies, and so does South Africa if you include Markram. But on balance, we still feel that these are our best batters, and we’re going to make do with the abundance of left-handers,” said Doeschate.

Onus on batters to find a way: Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus had foxed the Indian batters with his round-arm off-spin in Delhi before Pakistan’s Usman Tariq, Salman Agha and Saim Ayub were able to put the arch-rivals under pressure in Colombo.

Doeschate said batters need to find a way against finger spinners when the ball is holding a bit. “I wouldn’t say off-spin; I’d say finger spin,” said the assistant coach about the areas of improvement going into the next phase of the ICC event. “If you take the combined, I think Pakistan bowled 14 overs of finger spin in the last game, and off the top of my head I want to say something like 4 for 78 or something like that. So it’s not great numbers.”

Colombo was a particularly difficult wicket, and I think the numbers tonight got sort of improved towards the back end. But again, Aryan Dutt bowling four overs is a big challenge. “I think these two venues in particular, with the bigger boundary here (Ahmedabad) and obviously a slower wicket in Colombo, sort of do exaggerate that. But it’s something we’re going to have to focus on, like I said, with the amount of finger spin we’re going to get in the next three games,” said Doeschate.

India play South Africa in their Super 8s opener here on Sunday. “I think on better wickets you won’t see it (batters struggling against spin). You can hit through the line with more confidence, but the point is that we need to have plans where the wickets do hold and the boundaries are there.

“We need to be able to have a game plan to deal with that threat,” said Doeschate. Even the Netherlands had planned to choke India with spin in the power play after seeing their struggles against Pakistan.

“We obviously looked at the Pakistan game and saw that they’d struggled with spin. So we had a focus of — in the power play bowling spin, trying to limit their scoring options. I think their spinners bowled really well to stop them from getting off to good starts, so credit to the,” said Bas de Leede.

Abhishek Sharma batting well in nets: Despite three ducks in a row, Doeschate is not worried about Sharma’s form. The left-hander missed the Nambia game due to a stomach infection which needed hospitalisation. He fell to the off-spin of Salman Agha and Aryan Dutty in the last two matches.

“He batted really well last night in the nets (on the eve of Netherlands game). He spent 90 minutes batting. I think we’ve also got to give him a bit of space. He came into the prep phase not feeling well, obviously spent a few days in hospital and then missed the game.

“So it’s been a very disjointed competition for him so far. But I saw some really good signs last night with his ball striking and instead of a hound in my heart, absolutely no worries about him. He’ll be fine for the second phase,” added the assistant coach.