India will play the series decider against the Proteas tomorrow in Vizag. From bad luck at tosses to last match blunder, Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate opens up about everything at the pre-match press conference.
The Indian assistant coach said, "The dew factor is, we're actually trying to put a number on it, and it varies between 10 and 20% which is a big difference. I think we're one in a million statistically at the moment, so if we can go two million tomorrow, that'll be pretty impressive. But again, it's a bit of a joke, but the responsibility or the preparation is to beat whatever is put in front of us, and eventually we're going to win a toss anyway."
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India adapts training, bowling with wet balls ahead of ODI series
He also confirms that the Indian bowlers are now practising with wet balls and trying to control the bowling. Highlighting this, he said, "We are doing all the practical prep stuff, guys bowling with wet balls. Again, you know, like setting up our store to get a premium score, figuring out how to defend, what is best to bowl with the wet ball when there is dew on the grass." In the last match, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana looked a bit off as the ball was not gripping really well. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav also faced the batting carnage by South African batters.
The current functioning of ODIs creates an unexpected problem. Previously, there was one new ball at each innings. However, it appeared that this had shifted the game's balance in favour of the batters, with the ball remaining harder for longer and becoming easier to hit even late in the innings. The ICC took note of this, and since July, bowling teams have been selecting one of those two balls to carry on for the final 16 overs.
India's dew strategy for 2nd ODI: Start time shift, unchanged XI?
Talking about how to negate the problem, he said,” The fact that the dew kind of falls as the second inning starts. It means that the dew is there for the whole time, so a different start time could bring that effect down a little bit.”
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In the last five matches in Vishakhapatnam, all teams that batted in the second chased down the totals to win the matches, so it will be Interesting to see what the teams will choose to do in this type of condition.
From the Indian side, it is expected that the team will remain unchanged. If the team chooses to go with a proper batter, then the doors for Rishabh Pant or Tilak Varma can open. As of now, there is no update on the injuries of Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi, which they sustained in the last match.
