Ryan van Doeschate, assistant coach of India, acknowledges that the “outdone and outsmarted” visitors could not read the conditions and says the T20 world champions are in “disbelief” after losing to Ireland in the two-match T20 series.
In just 48 hours after defeating India by 34 runs in the opening match, Ireland defeated Shreyas Iyer and his team by a single run on Sunday to secure an unforgettable series victory.
“I think there is a little bit of disbelief, we have just won a World Cup. We have been outdone, outsmarted by a team which did their basics very well. Firstly credit to Ireland and secondly the learning for us (is) in terms of being able to adapt to different conditions and against different teams and that is the biggest takeaway from this series,” PTI quoted Ten Doeschate as saying at the post-match press conference.
“I think it (conditions) was a big factor, I think that was essentially what was our undoing…we just didn’t address them well enough. The big thing was wind but absolutely there are no excuses. We have to find solutions to different challenges in a different manner.
“Ireland did their basics really well and we couldn’t combat that. We are probably too used to tempo style where you can hit sixes more freely. We have to be a lot smarter in these conditions,” he added.
The Dutchman acknowledged that the batting strategy should have been improved but praised Indian bowlers for restricting Ireland to 154/8 on Sunday.
“I think we adjusted really well as a bowling unit today. We bowled a lot smarter and that probably reflected in the score that they got in the board today. But again with the ball they were fantastic both seamers and spinners and that reflected in the economy rate.
“Their bowlers went under seven an over and we need to learn from that. We need to adapt quicker, we want the boys to make those adjustments a lot quicker,” he said.
Ten Doeschate denied that the batters should be a little more cautious during the high-scoring phase, but he acknowledged that losing wickets during the powerplay hindered the team’s pursuit.
“I think it’s been a strong part of the team in the last 3-4 years. We really try to dominate the power play. We want to get that balance right…obviously if you lose two wickets without score on the board in the power play it does put a lot of pressure on the middle order.
“I certainly will be very cautious about saying let’s be very careful upfront, that’s not the way we want to play. We want to take better options and give ourselves a better chance to dominate in the power play.”
India will now travel to England, where they will play three ODIs and five T20Is beginning on July 1 at Chester-le-Street.
