India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has admitted that the reigning T20 World Cup champions are falling short in overseas conditions, saying the team must first accept that they have been “underachieving” away from home before they can improve. India’s struggles continued on their tour of the British Isles after being whitewashed 2-0 by Ireland and then surrendering the five-match T20I series to England. The hosts sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead with a dominant nine-wicket victory in the fourth T20I in Manchester on Thursday. Addressing the media after the defeat, Ten Doeschate stressed that adapting to unfamiliar conditions remains India’s biggest challenge. “We have spoken so much about adaptability, it’s easy to say we need to adapt, it’s easy to say but really it’s a point now where we need to understand the process, what is needed to make those adaptations,” Ten Doeschate said. He added that the first step is acknowledging the team’s shortcomings in overseas conditions. “Psychologically and mentally the challenge for the group is to accept the fact that we are underachieving in foreign conditions and tell the players look there is a big prize two years down the line in Australia. “Do we want be a team that smashes 250 in India and looks great hitting 80m six at Eden Gardens or do you want to come to places like Manchester, Southampton where things are slightly different and further down the line the MCG. “Those were the places do we want to be the team to excel in different conditions and do we have the mentality to make those adjustments. That’s the mental challenge and that’s we need the players to take that on.” The former Netherlands all-rounder said India’s batting approach, which has worked well on flat pitches at home, has not translated to seam-friendly surfaces in Ireland and England. “I think Jofra (Archer) and (Josh) Tongue bowled exceptionally well and we haven’t made that adjustment as much as we have spoken about it, we have spoken about the need to evolve and what works in India won’t necessarily work here. “We just haven’t quite managed to shift from that mindset where we read on whether we are really strong on good wickets and the little adjustments that were needed. I think all the three wickets were little slower, had a little bit of bounce. You can’t play the same way, we trying to address but at the same time our performance have been really poor,” he said. Ten Doeschate also pointed out that captain Shreyas Iyer has been the lone bright spot with the bat despite not being part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad. “The majority of those guys won a World Cup four months ago, one of the guys (Shreyas Iyer) who wasn’t there is scoring heavy runs. But it is disappointing as it has been, it’s really just to take learnings from these games, keep trusting the players and give them that runway given what they have done for the country in the past.” The assistant coach acknowledged that India’s packed schedule left little room for preparation before the tour. “Ideally you want to prepare longer for a series but again we came from a series in India. I think I mentioned in the past about balancing freshness and being fair on the players as well, make sure they get to spend a little bit of time at home after World Cup, IPL and then the Afghan series and then we coming here and get four, five days practice is not ideal but one of the takeways from what you seen so far is preparation for different conditions is really important. “Mentally you have to be prepared to make that shift, ideally you have to identify things that work in one area don’t necessarily work elsewhere. You need to be open to make those changes a lot quicker than we have done in the last 2-3 weeks,” he said. Backing Iyer as captain despite the disappointing results, Ten Doeschate said the skipper deserves patience as he settles into the role. “He is one the guys who has exploited the ability to use the crease and that’s how you have to play in these condition. He has batted really well in all three innings. But again I don’t want to stand and defend the players and also be over critical but the onus is on the players to have the mindset to accept that the fact it’s really going badly and look at the evidence in front of them. “Shreyas is a fantastic leader and age wise if you are looking at two years down the line in Australia you have to make some really tough calls, there is going to millions of opinions about it. The immediate backlash of transitioning to a new captain after losing two games against Ireland and 3-0 down in England, I think it isn’t very good. It is important to look at things a little realistically,” he said. Ten Doeschate also believes India’s fortunes will improve once experienced all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah return to the T20 side. “We have made a few changes to the squad we brought here, Hardik and Jasprit make a big difference to the team. We have got a slightly different squad with different weapons and we need to give Shreyas a little bit of time to grow into that role and the players to adapt to his captaincy style as well. He started really well, leading from the front with the bat. I think he will get his just rewards as a captain.” India will look to avoid a series whitewash when they face England in the fifth and final T20I at Southampton on Saturday.
