Washington is learning about batting: Doeschate, as all-rounder focusses on big-hitting at nets

Visakhapatnam, Dec 5 (PTI) Washington Sundar is experiencing a rather tough progress in ODI cricket at the moment but India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the all-rounder has been fine-tuning his game to meet the demands of the 50-over format.

More than his bowling, Washington seemed to be struggling to force the pace while coming to bat in the late overs.

At Ranchi, the left-hander made 13 off 18 balls and 1 off seven balls at Raipur, stalling the flow of India’s innings.

In that context, it was not surprising to see him batting extensively in the nets on Friday under the watchful eyes of head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.

There was a lot of focus in hitting over the circles against pace and spin alike, as Washington batted against a set of local net bowlers.

Doeschate was pleased with the work ethics of the Tamil Nadu all-rounder.

"I think Washi is still learning when it comes to batting, it's becoming a very specialised role now coming in late overs, and there’s certain things he wants to work on," Doeschate said during the pre-match press meet ahead of Saturday’s series-deciding third ODI here.

However, Washington has also been deprived of regular bowling in the white ball formats.

He has played just five ODI in 2025 and bowled his full quota of 10 overs in only one match. Doeschate offered a reason for that.

"I think when it comes to a finger spinner you always need to get match-ups for a left-hander, right-hander and essentially Washi is one of the six bowlers," Doeschate said.

"Washi and Jaddu (Jadeja) are the three spinners along with Kuldeep. There's always going to be.....in those conditions particularly, we are not not going to bowl more than 20 overs of spin,” he added.

The Dutchman was certain that the rough ride had not affected Washington's mindset.

"No, it won't affect his confidence, he's had a very good 12 months, even more in the last 16 months. He has played some good cricket in the two games where he hasn't given up," he assured.

Optional nets, batting against left-armers ========================== The Indian team went through an optional net session here on Friday with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington and Tilak Varma sweating it out under lights.

The focus was on sharpening their skills against left-arm pacers and spinners as India summoned a plethora of southpaws from the local cricket circles.

India had their share of struggles against left-arm bowlers of late with SA’s Marco Jansen, Nandre Burger and Keshav Maharaj stifling them at various junctures.

Apart from Jaiswal at the top, the middle and late-order batters too found it hard to put the left-arm bowlers away, particularly in the business end of the last two ODIs, robbing India of some late bursts.

Doeschate was aware of that.

"There's an element of responsibility that comes into it. Obviously, you don't want to go (hard-hitting) too early and expose the tail. We've done pretty well with that.

“I think the slight slowdown you saw in both games in terms of the run-rate was a combination of the wickets slowing up a little bit as the ball got older.

“And then obviously, when new guys come to the wickets, it does take a little bit of time to get settled. But we spoke about how we are going to manage the tail and how we can go a little bit harder," Doeschate explained.

It explained why India brought Nitish, Washington and Tilak to the nets this evening as those three all-rounders are in contention to take up one spot in the lower middle-order (5-7).

There would have been some debate about India’s reliance on all-rounders, but Doeschate had little doubt that all-rounders are doing a fine job for the team.

"Ideally Test cricket should have a more solid base of batters and bowlers but we feel at the moment the guys who are doing the job for us just happen to be all-rounders. It's making the best of them but that's the way it's going at the moment,” he added. PTI UNG AT AT