India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate says the side never really thought their 15 February group match against Pakistan would be scrapped, even while politicians squabbled in the background. The two teams will now meet at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo – Pakistan have already been in the Sri Lankan capital for a fortnight, India turn up only on the 13th after facing Namibia in Delhi.
“First of all, it’s great that the game’s back on,” ten Doeschate noted on Tuesday. “We kind of never changed our preparation that the game wasn’t going to happen. We were always under the impression that something would transpire and we would play.”
Key facts, then the detail
• Match confirmed for 15 February, Premadasa Stadium
• Pakistan have a four-day gap after their 10 February fixture
• India arrive two days before the match, coming off a game against Namibia
• India have beaten Pakistan five times on the trot since October 2022
None of that, ten Doeschate insists, alters the approach in the nets. “It’s no big change the way we are going about things,” he said. “We kind of accepted that as a status quo… until we got there and they didn’t show up, we were assuming we were going to play.”
Why Colombo could be tricky
Pakistan have trained and played twice at the Sinhalese Sports Club, useful homework for conditions that often grip for spinners late in the evening. India, meanwhile, have been camped on the faster Delhi surface. That, ten Doeschate admits, may hand Pakistan a marginal head start. “It’s going to be a challenge going to Colombo where Pakistan have been for the last two weeks and we fully focused on just bringing our best game.”
Former India opener Aakash Chopra, speaking on a separate broadcast, pointed out how USA’s seamers had once slowed India with a packed off-side ring at the Wankhede. He reckons a similar ploy might resurface. Whether that works on a heavier Sri Lankan track is anybody’s guess; the extra bounce isn’t really there, so bowlers risk disappearing if they miss their length by a whisker.
Momentum (if you believe in it) favours India – five straight wins do not lie – yet the shortened turnaround means logistics rather than form could dominate the build-up. A couple of intense net sessions, a look at the square, quick recovery. That’s about all the time Rohit Sharma’s men have.
For all the noise, both camps seem keen simply to get on with the cricket. And, as ten Doeschate put it, staying clear of “all the politics” might be the most sensible tactic of the lot.
