No-one inside the India camp is pressing the panic button, yet assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate is happy to spell out the obvious: fingerspin continues to nag this all-left-hand heavy batting order, and it could “be a differentiator” once the T20 World Cup reaches the Super Eight stage.
India moved to four wins from four with Wednesday night’s 17-run victory over the Netherlands in Ahmedabad, but it was another evening in which off-spinners and slow finger-rollers dictated long passages of play.
“We need to be able to have a game plan to deal with that threat,” ten Doeschate said, reflecting on a group phase in which India have already faced 102 balls of off-spin, more than any other side. “I wouldn’t say [there are struggles against] offspin, I’d say fingerspin [on the whole]. If you take the combined figures, I think Pakistan bowled 14 [17] overs of fingerspin in the last game, and off the top of my head, I want to say [they got] something like 4 for 78 or something like that [5 for 125]. So it’s not great numbers [for India].”
Those numbers looked no healthier against the Dutch. Aryan Dutt snatched Abhishek Sharma’s third straight duck with his fourth ball, then nipped out Ishan Kishan during a three-over powerplay spell worth 2 for 17. With six left-handers in the top eight, it felt almost inevitable that the off-spinner would get the new ball.
Once the early damage was done, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma chose consolidation over fireworks, India crawling at 7.44 an over between the seventh and 15th. On match-eve batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had insisted Tilak was “merely playing the role assigned to him”. Ten Doeschate took a broader view. “It’s been a trend in this World Cup,” he noted. “Across all games… you get off the books quickly, and batting becomes difficult through the middle phase, and teams are getting a lot more clever now.”
Former India quick Varun Aaron, working the host broadcaster’s feed, believes splitting the left-hand trio at the top could help. Sanjay Bangar, once India’s batting coach, prefers a tactical change: send in a designated spin-basher at No.4 whenever a right-arm off-spinner comes on. Neither option seems imminent. “As things stand, we’re going to make do with the abundance of left-handers,” ten Doeschate said, smiling but only half-joking.
Abhishek, meanwhile, remains in the XI despite that unwanted hat-trick of noughts. Ten Doeschate kept the advice simple. “Just got to keep filling him with confidence,” he said. “On better wickets, you won’t see it… you can hit through the line with more confidence.”
Wednesday’s surface was no minefield, yet the Dutch took pace off at every opportunity. Even in Colombo, where Pakistan slowed the ball into the pitch and collected five wickets for 125 from 17 overs of fingerspin, India failed to find a release shot. “Colombo was a particularly difficult wicket,” ten Doeschate admitted, “and I think the numbers tonight got sort of improved towards the back end. But again, Aryan Dutt bowling four overs, it is a big cha—” The coach stopped short of finishing the thought, but the challenge is clear enough.
India’s bowlers, to their credit, have masked the batting stutters. Jasprit Bumrah’s late-over mastery and Axar Patel’s canny left-arm spin dragged the hosts over the line against Pakistan, while Arshdeep Singh’s full, straight death bowling squeezed the Dutch chase. Yet tighter fixtures await: South Africa, Australia and England all boast frontline off-spinners ready to camp on a length.
“There’s no quick fix,” former England spinner Graeme Swann said on commentary. “Rotate strike, use the sweep, hit the sightscreen when you get a half-volley—basic cricket, really.”
Basic or not, fingerspin is likely to remain central to every opponent’s planning. India have five days before their Super Eight opener in Chennai. Expect plenty of throw-downs from the right-arm round-the-wicket angle, and perhaps the odd quiet word reminding every left-hander of the quickest way to midwicket’s rope.
