Ryan ten Doeschate , the former Netherlands allrounder, didn't think batting against spin was an area he would need to focus on when he signed up as one of India's assistant coaches, but it's a challenge he's keen to take on as the team builds towards a home season comprising five Tests - two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand.
"One of the challenges I wasn't expecting and I kind of overlooked is the playing of spin by Indian batters," ten Doeschate told TalkSport Cricket . "We got undone in Sri Lanka ."
India lost 27 wickets to spin in the recently concluded three ODIs in Sri Lanka, the most any team has lost to this variety of bowling in a three-match series. After the series, captain Rohit Sharma said it was an area that needed some addressing .
"The mindset of India has been such that they've been so desperate to do well overseas," ten Doeschate said. "The focus has moved to doing well in Australia, England [so] that we've kind of let playing spin, which was always a strength of the Indian team, fall back a little bit. That's one thing I'm looking forward to helping with, getting to that position where Indians are the best players of spin in the world again."
Ten Doeschate, 44, is one of two assistants alongside Abhishek Nayar in the Gautam Gambhir -led coaching staff. He has been active in the coaching circuit since his retirement in 2021, having worked with Kent, Kolkata Knight Riders and, more recently, LA Knight Riders in Major League Cricket.
In his new role with India, he said the focus would be largely on preparation rather than being too technical. "I don't think much of what we're going to bring is technical knowledge to these guys," he said. "It's more about mindsets, situational awareness, how we think they can control certain phases of the game.
"[It's about] throwing ideas out there, de-briefing and keeping the mental space really good. That's going to be really important."
Ten Doeschate said he was wary of the challenges of taking over a successful team, which is coming off a World Cup triumph, but also exuded excitement at the prospect of what lay ahead.
"It's exciting and kind of daunting at the same time," he said. "In terms of what we're looking forward to, qualifying for the WTC final [next June is a goal]. There's a great opportunity with 10 Tests left, five in India [over the next couple of months] and then going to Australia [for five more at the end of 2024] is going to be great.
"Then in the medium term there's the Champions Trophy [in February 2025]. With only three ODIs left in the prep phase, it's going to be really challenging to switch between the formats and get the team ready for that, which again is something they're desperate to win.
"Then in the next [WTC] cycle, the tour to England [summer of 2025] is going to be fantastic and then prepping the team for the [2026] T20 World Cup. In terms of timing, it's quite difficult to walk into a team that's just come back with the [2024 T20] World Cup, but in terms of what's ahead for the next 18 months, it's mouth-watering as a coach. It's all the series you want to be involved in and all the challenges you want to come up against."
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