We really need to get back to having opponents fearing coming to play in India: ten Doeschate

Rajkot, Jan 14 (PTI) Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Wednesday admitted Indian team needs to restore the fear of touring the country in minds of the opposition, after New Zealand handed the hosts a seven-wicket hammering in the second ODI here on Wednesday.

New Zealand outgunned India across departments to notch a series levelling win with more than two overs and seven wickets to spare, riding on Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 131 and Will Young’s 87.

Chasing 285, New Zealand responded with 286 for three in 47.3 overs.

“We're always trying to win every game with sort of managing the medium to long-term prospects of the team as well. But yeah, it's certainly something we need to get back to, to guys really fearing coming in and playing India,” ten doeschate told the media after the match.

It is for the second consecutive time that a three-match series is heading into a series-decider, with India winning their previous series against South Africa in the third ODI after losing the second.

India had made a winning start to the series against New Zealand by winning the first ODI by four wickets while they lost the second. The series-deciding final ODI will be played in Indore on Sunday.

The assistant coach admitted that the team management will look in particularly at the lengths bowled by their spinners, who were out-bowled by their Kiwi counterparts on a slow wicket here at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.

“We still thought 290 was about right. We thought the wicket would get a bit tougher tonight. We didn't actually mind bowling second,” ten Doeschate said.

“We probably want to bowl a little bit better than we did tonight. Particular spinners, like you say, about lengths. But we'll go back and look at those lengths in more detail. But it's never just one reason for losing a game. There's a lot of different things going into that loss tonight,” he added. PTI DDV BS BS