Sipu Jha
Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate offered a frank assessment after India’s seven-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the second ODI, conceding that all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has struggled to make a telling impact despite being given repeated chances, while also pointing out that Rohit Sharma remains “short on cricket” heading into the series. Reddy, the only change in India’s XI for the match, endured a quiet outing as New Zealand chased down 284 with ease to level the three-match series. The all-rounder scored 20 runs and went wicketless in his two overs, failing to capitalise on what ten Doeschate described as a valuable opportunity.
“With Nitish, we keep talking about developing him and getting him game time and then when you do get him game time, he often ends up not doing a heck of a lot in the games,” ten Doeschate said after the match. He stressed that situations like the second ODI were exactly the kind Reddy needed to embrace to strengthen his case for selection. “For someone who’s making their way, particularly with the bat tonight, it was that perfect chance where you’re walking in that situation and you’ve got a chance to spend 15 overs at the wicket. You really have to take those chances to push your case to be selected,” he added. Looking back, ten Doeschate admitted India may have misread the conditions. With New Zealand’s spinners extracting significant help from the surface, he felt an extra spinner could have been more effective than persisting with an all-round option. “If you look at the combinations we have played in the past, we do like the extra spinner,” he said. “To bring Ayush (Badoni) into the squad at the very last minute with Washy (Washington Sundar) going down in the last game, we thought Nitish should be better suited on this track. “Looking at the way the New Zealand spinners bowled, we could have done with another spinner.” Ten Doeschate also spoke about Rohit Sharma’s form, suggesting a lack of match practice could be a factor despite the India captain featuring in two Vijay Hazare Trophy games earlier in the season. “Rohit, I thought tonight particularly, both innings was a real new-ball wicket. It didn’t look easy to bat,” he said. “Over a short period of time if you take the first ODI, he’s not been as fluent as he has been and that’s going to be a challenge for him, not playing cricket between series.” He dismissed suggestions that Rohit was consciously altering his approach. “I don’t think it’s a conscious approach. He’s such a brutal player, but he’s actually a touch player at the end of the day. He times the ball… so as soon as the wickets aren’t very good, it’s going to be difficult for him to look in fluent mode like he normally is. “It’s just a combination of the wickets being slightly difficult and maybe just being a little bit short on cricket leading into the series.” On the batting order, ten Doeschate indicated that KL Rahul’s current form opens up options, including a regular role at No. 5. “KL is certainly good enough to be at No. 5. That was a quality hundred there and also the toll that keeping takes on guys in 50-overs cricket isn’t that bad. It’s not like we’re protecting him,” he said. “One of our strategies in the last 18 months has been to prolong that batting order and we do like to use the all-rounder either high up the order or at No. 5 like we’ve done with Washy in the past. But that certainly is an avenue to explore.” The assistant coach also backed Ravindra Jadeja despite his modest wicket returns in recent ODIs, insisting there was no cause for concern. “I don’t think he’s feeling the heat. His stats are crazy and he’s probably been a bit light on wickets of late,” ten Doeschate said. “But it’s not a concern. The things we’ve looked at in terms of his pace that he’s bowling, the things we’ve asked him to work on, I feel like he is actually bowling better. So, hopefully the wickets will follow with a bit of a lag.”
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