Fixing the top
While India’s batting coach said the team management will not overanalyse any player’s recent performances, it seems the opponent teams have done their homework to counter India’s explosive top order, which consists of three left-handers, in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup.
In his three innings, Abhishek Sharma returned to the pavilion without contributing to the score. Tilak Varma has had trouble while facing spin. Ishan Kishan was left to carry the baton alone. With the repeated failures of Abhishek, questions have been raised if Sanju Samson should get his spot in the opening pair back after losing it to Kishan due to non-performance.
India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate is also aware about the fact that the top-three carry high hopes for the side, and are being targeted by opponent finger spinners.
“We don’t have many options (in the top three). We’ve got Sanju sitting on the side and we feel in balance, particularly with the games coming up, if we look at what finger spin is,” said ten Doeschate after the Indian team’s 17-run win over Netherlands.
While the likes of Pakistan, Namibia and Netherlands challenged the Indian batters with their finger spinners and tasted success to some extent, India’s upcoming matches against South Africa and West Indies are going to be crucial for knockout qualification. In the next match, the Proteas spin attack will be led by Keshav Maharaj. South Africa have played their three group matches here.
“We’ve got a few guys who bowl finger spin and so do the West Indies and so does South Africa, if you include (Aiden) 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 ten Doeschate. “I wouldn’t say off spin, I’d say finger spin. 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 4/78 or something like that. So it’s not great numbers.”
Not particularly Pakistan spinners, but Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus and Netherlands off-spinner Aryan Dutt also outfoxed Indian batters. Meanwhile, ten Doeschate said the batters need to find a way against finger spinners when the ball is holding a bit. “Colombo was a particularly difficult wicket and I think the numbers against Netherlands got sort of improved towards the back end. But again, Dutt bowling four overs, it 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 does 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 ten Doeschate.
Despite Abhishek’s three ducks in a row, ten Doeschate is not worried about the opener’s form. The left-hander missed the Namibia game due to a stomach infection and needed hospitalisation. “I think it’s quite difficult for him as well... he is obviously not happy. He batted really well in the nets. 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. It’s been a very disjointed competition for him so far. He will be fine for the second phase,” said ten Doeschate.
