We have spoken about going a bit harder at the death: ten Doeschate

Ahead of the series decider against South Africa, Ryan ten Doeschate stated that India has been working on addressing the drop in run rate in the death overs.

“The slight slowdown in both games was a combination of the wickets slowing up a little bit as the ball got older. And then, when new guys come in, it does take a little bit of time to settle. We spoke about it, exactly that, how we’re going to manage the tail and how we can go a little bit harder,” said India’s assistant coach.

With dew playing a big part so far, the Dutchman admitted tweaking match timings was a solution but understands the larger challenges.

“The dew falls as the second inning starts, and is there for the whole time. That effect could come down a little bit if you started two hours early. That is a solution, but obviously there’s so many moving parts at play, in terms of broadcasting.”

The 45-year-old also discussed the role of the two-ball rule in ODIs, particularly when discussing dew.

“The flip side is that you’ve got one ball that’s getting more wet, essentially. The umpires have been very good in allowing ball changes. But then, you end up getting a slightly harder ball, which negates the whole point of going down to the one ball.”

He also saw the funny side in India’s ongoing struggles with the toss. “I think we’ve won one in a million, statistically, at the moment. So if we can go (to) two, that’d be pretty impressive.”