Ryan ten Doeschate hints at need for revision in batting strategy

Until the end of January, India batted in the one tone of complete devastation like they've been built to do over the last couple of years. They smashed New Zealand for 238 in Nagpur, and gave their bowlers a couple of nights to forget leading up to the World Cup. They got 200-plus in chase with more than four overs to spare in Raipur, and then showed the limitless extent of their batting possibilities in Guwahati, where 155 was snared in just 10 overs.

True surfaces have uncovered a demonic side to India's game, a trend that was expected to continue in the opener at Wankhede. But a surprisingly tacky surface and USA's appreciable bowling plan poked holes in this Route-One ideology, putting them at the risk of being at the receiving end of the first upset of the tournament. They eventually found a way out of the trenches via captain Suryakumar Yadav, but two points came with lessons and the possibility of shaping a plan B for such curveballs.

It's a tricky road for India to go down. They've built the many successes of this World Cup cycle by giving their top-order the freedom to tonk from the first ball, and have surprisingly found a way to be consistent with it. But with pitches around the country and in Colombo offering bowlers a lifeboat in a format meant to drown them, there will be a clamour for some sort of revision in batting approach.

"Only I can tell actually at the position which we were in, 77 for 6, how much pressure I was feeling. We learned that we could have batted a little better or maybe a little smarter. Those small, small partnerships could have got us to 160 rather than one batter or two batter trying to play it till the end," Suryakumar had said after the win in Mumbai. On Tuesday, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate echoed those thoughts. Between now and Thursday when India take the field for their second fixture, buzzwords like application are expected to be thrown around in batting meetings.

"I think the way the modern game has moved, the instinct is to hit the ball first and often hit the ball for six, but there will certainly be the odd times where you have to apply yourself [better]," ten Doeschate offered. "I thought that the wicket in Mumbai did call out for a bit more application and maybe a change in strategy, particularly the situation we found ourselves in, losing a few wickets in the PowerPlay and then being six down at 70, it did need an adaption and thankfully our captain came good."

India did stare down the barrel in Mumbai where their attempts to hit their way out of trouble backfired spectacularly. Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dube were undone by change of pace and Tilak Varma was bounced out after Abhishek Sharma became a victim of exceptional field placement in the first over - a deep extra cover catcher as one of the two fielders outside the 30-yard circle, who he hit to for a first-ball duck. Rinku Singh, with an entry point in the sixth over, struggled and found the long-on fielder in frustration. It was the sort of evening where timing eluded even Hardik Pandya.

In the aftermath of such an outcome, messaging will be key to how India go about batting against Namibia. There perhaps isn't a need for India's top-order to go too far away from their methods, but there might be a step in caution before reaching for the sixes again - depending entirely on what the conditions allow in the first 7 pm fixture at the venue.

"I think the [batting] confidence comes from the skill system, the body of work that they've put in over the last two years. They've done it many times and it's turned out great, it's not an abnormal thing for these players. But the wickets haven't played quite the way we thought yet and again we want to be adaptive and we should have been a lot better than we were at Mumbai and [that's] something we will address," ten Doeschate said.

India are not in denial about the risks that come attached with the rewards of batting like they do in T20Is. The assistant coach, in fact, attributed some of their extreme habits to the bowling arsenal at their disposal. Any conversation about finding a watered down version of their batting are now being entertained only to account for the nature of pitches in the tournament so far.

"Having the world-class bowlers that we feel we have, it does give the batters that freedom to make mistakes and this format, if you're shooting for 250 all the time, you're going to make mistakes and we have to accept that, it's almost admissible mistakes which we allow for. But judging how the wickets have played in the first five or six days of the tournament, there might be a slight revision in strategy and how we go about that."

Against New Zealand in Raipur, India went from 6/2 in 1.1 overs to 75/2 in 6 overs - underlining their unwavering commitment to attack despite early setbacks. If conditions on Thursday evening keep up with the trend of siding with the bowlers, it will test how well India can blend their default batting aggression with the restraint demanded after Mumbai, and settle on the ideal middle ground without losing their identity.