Vishakapatnam, Dec 6: Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Friday said a below-par performance in the preceding Test series has put a certain amount of “desperation” in the Indian team to win the ongoing ODI series against South Africa.India lost the two-match Test rubber 0-2 to the Proteas recently and the one-day series is now levelled at 1-1. “It’s a very different personnel of players but the guys are very aware of the responsibility of what they’re representing,” ten Doeschate said here on the eve of the series-deciding third ODI.
KL Rahul’s side won the first match at Ranchi by 17 runs but SA pulled one back at Raipur with a four-wicket victory.
“We always want to win but, yeah certainly, when a few losses do start stacking up and performances have been below what we expect from ourselves, I think it’s a slight desperation from the series point of view,” he added.
But ten Doeschate was quick to add that the team members have been quite used to tackling such pressure situations.
“I don’t think pressure ever goes away for this team. You know, bilateral series, when the series is on the line, there is an element of pressure there in itself. We try to focus on the process. We try and assess what’s going to be a good score and then the batting unit has to go about getting it,” he said.
The former Dutch all-rounder admitted the dew played a massive role the last two matches, and was aware that it could be a factor here too on Saturday.
“The dew factor is so big here. It’s obviously not our fault but it is our responsibility to find a way to get around that. I think we’re doing pretty well in the defending department now (if India is bowling second).