Something they’re desperate to win: Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate outlines India’s ambition to win Champions Trophy

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Wednesday opened up about the Men in Blue’s ambitions in the upcoming days which included winning the Champions Trophy in 2025 and reaching the final of the World test Championships.

“There’s the Champions Trophy (February 2025). With only three ODIs left in preparation, it’s going to be really challenging to switch between the formats and get the team ready for that, which again is something they’re desperate to win,” he said to Talksport Cricket.

“In terms of what we’re looking forward to… qualifying for the WTC final… there’s a great opportunity with 10 Tests left. We have five (Tests) in India and then we are going to Australia (for another five Tests), which is going to be great,” he added.

The 44-year-old former Dutch international also admitted that in recent years, India’s ability to play spin bowling has been dented. This problem came to the fore in the recent Sri Lanka ODI series where India lost 27 wickets against Sri Lankan spinners and were defeated 0-2 in the series.

“We got undone against Sri Lanka. The mindset of India has been such that they’ve been so desperate to do well overseas. The focus has moved to doing well in Australia and England. We’ve kind of let playing spin, which was always a strength of the Indian team, fall back a little bit. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to helping with, getting to that position where Indians are the best players of spin in the world again,” said Doeschate.

He also said said playing spin is about making a mental shift rather than bringing about major technical changes.

“I don’t think much of what we’re going to bring is technical knowledge. It’s more about mindsets, situational awareness, and how we think they can control certain phases of the game. We need to throw ideas out there… de-briefing and keeping the mental space really good. That’s going to be really important,” he said.

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