India’s assistant coach, Ryan Ten Doeschate, has opened up on the upcoming edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which is scheduled to take place in Pakistan, as the question stands whether the Blue Brigade is ready to make a trip to the country which they haven’t since the 2009 Asia Cup.
Ryan Ten Doeschate has pointed out that the Men in Blue has now aimed to show better performance in the Champions Trophy 2025 and the ongoing third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. India won the 2013 season of the CT under the captaincy of MS Dhoni while ending as the runner-up in both the WTC seasons.
The former Netherlands player has addressed the importance of being clinical in switching the formats, which is going to be challenging, but the team has prepared themselves for that.
“There’s the Champions Trophy (February 2025). With only three ODIs left in preparation, it’s going to be challenging to switch between the formats and get the team ready for that, which again is something they’re desperate to win.” Ryan Ten Doeschate expressed recently on ‘TalkSport Cricket’.
Ryan Ten Doeschate shades light on India’s struggle playing the spinners
The Cape Province-born all-rounder looks forward to the opportunity to make their third consecutive final of the World Test Championship (WTC), as they have ten Tests to play for the rest of the cycle, five of which will be the acid Test in Australia during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
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“In terms of what we’re looking forward to… qualifying for the WTC final… there’s a great opportunity with 10 Tests left. We have five (Tests) in India, and then we are going to Australia (for another five Tests), which is going to be great.” Ryan Ten Doeschate narrated.
One of the biggest questions among the team has been their recent struggle against the spinners. India lost 27 of the 30 wickets during the three ODI games in Sri Lanka, where the batters could hardly read the bowlers from the hand.
The veteran feels that they would wish to be clinical against the pacers, to have more success in Australia and England, to weaken themselves against the spinners. He looks forward to working with the Indian players in this aspect of playing well against the spinners.
“We got undone against Sri Lanka. The mindset of India has been such that they’ve been so desperate to do well overseas. The focus has moved to doing well in Australia and England.” He said during the show.
“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.” Ryan Ten Doeschate shaded light.
He also felt that more than the technical change in the game of the batter, the requirement at the stage is to be mentally strong and aware of the situation, controlling a few certain things.
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“I don’t think much of what we’re going to bring is technical knowledge. It’s more about mindsets, situational awareness, and how we think they can control certain phases of the game. We need to throw ideas out there, de-briefing and keeping the mental space good. That’s going to be important.” Ryan Ten Doeschate concluded.
Under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, India will start the home season with the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, the first of which will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on September 19. The assistant coach’s goal will be to develop the skills of the Indian batters against the spinners.