Ryan ten Doeschate says India focused on process ahead of ODI decider

Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the team is focused on process and batting responsibility ahead of the ODI decider against South Africa in Visakhapatnam, stressing the dew factor and the advantage of chasing as key challenges

Visakhapatnam: Indian team assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the team is trying to focus on the process, assess what would be a good score and then plan how the batting unit has to go about getting it.

“There’s an element of responsibility that comes into it. Obviously, you don’t want to go too early and expose the tail in the last five or six overs,” he said ahead of the third and final one-dayer against South Africa at the ACA-VDCA International Stadium here on Friday.

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“I think the slight slowdown you saw in both games in terms of the run rate was a combination of the wickets slowing up a little as the ball got older. And when new batters come in, it does take a little time to get settled,” he said.

“But we spoke about it now, exactly at that point, how we’re going to manage the tail and how we can go a little bit harder,” the assistant coach said.

“The dew factor is so big here. It’s obviously not our fault but it is our responsibility to find a way around that,” Ryan said. “And I think we’re doing pretty well in the batting department on that.”

“When a bilateral series is on the line, that itself is an element of pressure,” he said.

“But the biggest challenge again is the disparity between batting first and batting second. I think it’s becoming more prominent in one-day cricket and that is the real challenge,” Ryan said.

On the idea of starting the one-day games earlier in the day to reduce the dew factor, Ryan said it could help. “If you started two hours early, that is the solution. But obviously there are so many moving parts at play in terms of broadcasting, etc. So I guess that’s a futile conversation,” he added.

“The thing that impressed me about this group this week is we know the challenges. I haven’t heard anyone complain and the mindset is all about finding ways around these challenges,” he said.

On whether it would be a better option to chase, Ryan said they would be very surprised if anyone won the toss and decided not to chase.