How Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma are damaging India | T20 World Cup
India have faced spin in 42 overs so far in the tournament and have scored 315 runs at a rate of just over seven. The spinners already have 15 Indian wickets to their credit. On Wednesday, Dutch off-spinner Aryan Dutt returned figures of 2/19 in four overs. Associate teams like USA and Netherlands gave India a scare before eventually falling. India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate admitted that teams have been targeting them with finger-twisters, especially given that the Men in Blue have several left-handers in their lineup. The top three (Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma) are all left-handed while Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel round out the tally. “The Dutch guys kept the pace off the ball a lot of the time. And of course teams throw a lot of fingers at us, with so many left-handed players in our lineup. That’s a challenge. It’s made it easy for the opposition. We don’t have many options. We have Sanju sitting on the side,” said Doeschate. It is a problem area that India need to address ahead of Sunday’s Super 8 match against South Africa. The Proteas boast quality spin options in captain Aiden Markram, George Linde and Keshav Maharaj. Even West Indies and Zimbabwe – the other teams in their group – are well stocked in the spin department and pose a threat that cannot be ignored. The Windies, as they showed in their league match against England at the Wankhede Stadium, have an effective trio in Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein and Roston Chase. The Zimbabwean four-point attack of Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer and Wellington Masakadza may also surprise. Ten Doeschate pointed out that it was finger spin that plagues India’s usually aggressive batsmen. “I’d say finger spin (is a problem). If you take the combined numbers, Pakistan bowled 14 overs of spin in the last game and off the head it was something like 4/78. So it’s not a great number. Colombo was a particularly difficult wicket. The numbers against the Netherlands improved on the back. But again he said Dutt bowled four overs, which was a big challenge for India, which was a bigger challenge. woe. “I think those two places in particular – with the bigger boundary and obviously the slower wicket in Colombo – are overdoing it. But it’s something we’ll have to focus on. With the amount of finger-twirling we’re going to have in the next three games, it’s going to be important that we dominate at this stage of the game,” he added. Ten Doeschate felt that the Indian batsmen also looked vulnerable as wickets in the league stage offered some help to the spinners. “It’s not a sudden thing. The wickets we’ve played bilateral series on over the last 18 months have been really good pitches. Once you come across a wicket that offers a bit of possession, it becomes a challenge. “So it might look like a short-term problem. You won’t see it on better wickets – you can hit the ball with more confidence. But the thing is, we need plans for wickets that last and where the boundaries are bigger. We need a clear game plan to deal with this threat,” he said. For all the talk of ‘intention’ and ‘fearless’ approach in T20Is, India’s drop in run rate after the Powerplay was also very surprising.