Ryan ten Doeschate might have the toughest job in all of cricket. Serving as Gautam Gambhir’s assistant within the Indian men’s team’s coaching staff is not, in itself, the most daunting aspect of his job. It is what accompanies that responsibility — facing the press, particularly in the aftermath of defeat.
Following defeats that are bound to raise questions, ten Doeschate is often the person to appear in post-match press conferences from the Indian team. Like how he did in Rajkot most recently, where India suffered an ODI defeat to a depleted New Zealand team on 14 January.
And when India suffered a crushing 76-run defeat to South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, 22 February, it seemed almost certain that he would once again be tasked with the duty. As expected, he appeared — but this time, he did not attempt to conceal his disappointment.
Ryan Ten Doeschate Acknowledges Disappointment in the Indian Camp
On being asked about the defeat, ten Doeschate acknowledged that he was very disappointed.
Very disappointed with the performance. But, when you set up or set out to win a World Cup, don't expect someone to come deliver the World Cup to you on halfway through the competition. So we understand we've made a lot of mistakes tonight. We understand you’re probably allowed one mess up in this phase of the competition. And 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. Obviously with the way the group goes, you need at least four points to get through now, and it's going to need two big performances and a big bounce back from everyone involved.Ryan ten Doeschate
‘No Excuses for Abhishek & Tilak’
Among the two major concerns in the team are the pair of top-order southpaws — Abhishek Shaerma and Tilak Varma. The former finally opened his account today after three consecutive ducks, though his 15-run knock could barely save India from embarrassment. The latter, meanwhile, has scored 107 runs, but a strike rate of 118.88 sparks concerns.
On their form, ten Doeschate added:
I certainly won't make excuses for Abhi or Tilak, they don't need excuses made for them but I think Abhi's preparation coming into the World Cup with the food poisoning that he had at one stage has obviously hampered his progress in terms of where we want him to be at this phase. You want him to be up and running and sort of confident in his swing and confident in his game plan and when you score three zeros that is going to start weighing on you. I saw some really good signs on Friday night in the nets, I think I mentioned it in the presser then. But he looks a little bit short and our job as the coaching staff is to pull that right. We've got four days to do that.Ryan ten Doeschate
With both left-handers misfiring, the possibility of introducing Sanju Samson — yet to feature in the tournament — has gained traction. On this, the assistant coach said:
Look, there's a lot of inexperience in the team and you want a settled team. These guys have done it all before. They're all fantastic players. So, do you stick with Twist? 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.Ryan ten Doeschate
Ten Doeschate Reveals Why India Played Washington Sundar Ahead of Axar Patel
Among the many decisions that made very little sense, Washington Sundar’s selection ahead of Axar Patel might be the most notable. The all-rounder neither contributed with the ball, going wicketless, nor did he produce anything of note with the bat, scoring only 11 runs.
Ten Doeschate explained the rationale behind picking Sundar ahead of India’s designated vice-captain:
In our analysis, we thought the biggest threat was going to come from Quinton and Ryan Rickleton and David Miller. And when you can only choose one of the two (between Washington Sundar and Axar Patel), we thought someone who can bowl in the powerplay. Axar obviously occasionally bowls in the powerplay, but we feel we've got Washi to a point where he's found a way of being effective in the powerplay and he obviously didn't bowl in the powerplay tonight so it looks like we've purely gone on who's going to bowl through the middle in which case you would choose Axar. But the strategy was around that and I think in a tournament like this you want or you expect all players to understand that the best intentions we're trying to pick the best 11 to win the game and I hope Axar takes in the same spirit as well.Ryan ten Doeschate
'Not Panic Stations'
The frailties of India’s batting unit were laid bare by even associates like the United States of America and the Netherlands. South Africa took it a level further, and now, the defending champions are not only rock bottom in the Super 8 standings, but they also have a worrisome net run rate of -3.800.
Ten Doeschate, though, claims that panic buttons are yet to pressed in the Indian management.
It is certainly not panic stations. And the sort of blueprint or the recipe so far for being successful is not the right word but by being consistent with the batting is that we have got out the blocks really quickly and Abhi's obviously a point of difference and so is Ishan now that he's come into the team. So, if those guys bat for six overs, the score is going to be 70 plus and you can do that on really good wickets. So can we get them to temper the way they're playing and, be a little bit smarter about their approach? Or do we just let them go on the way they are? Or do we bring in a right hand at the top as well and make a change somewhere in the middle? For me, those are the three options we have. And we'll be deliberating that in the next few days and putting our best 11 out to come Chennai in a couple of days.Ryan ten Doeschate