Indian batters have found it tough against finger spinners in the tournament so far.
Team India entered the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 with a lot of expectations, and certainly lived up to the hype at the end of the group-stage.
The defending champions won all four of their group matches, with the last one coming against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (February 18).
India's top order found it tough against Dutch off-spinner Aryan Dutt before Shivam Dube struck a 31-ball 66 to propel them to 193/6 in 20 overs. In reply, the Men in Blue restricted the Netherlands to 176/7 to secure a top finish in Group A.
Despite the unbeaten, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate pointed out major area of concerns heading into the Super 8 phase of the tournament: the predictability of the left-handed top-order and the batters' struggles against finger spinners.
Addressing the select media after India’s 17-run win over the Netherlands, Doeschate said the Men in Blue have not played a perfect game yet.
With India's top-order comprising the left-handed trio of Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, the assistant coach also conceded that it has made it easier for opponents to plan against them. Rival teams have been using off-spinners in the powerplay to contain the top-order.
Doeschate feels India don't have an off-spin issue as such, and it is the overall play against the finger spinners that needs improvement.
"It has (made it easier for teams to plan against India). We don't have many options (in the top three). We've got Sanju sitting on the side and we feel on balance, particularly with the games coming up, if we look at what finger spin is, we are going to come up against New Zealand.
"We've got a few guys who bowl finger spin and so do the West Indies and so does South Africa if you include Markram. But on balance, we still feel that these are our best batters and we're going to make do with the abundance of left-handers," Doeschate told reporters.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus had troubled the Indian batters with his round arm off-spin in Delhi before Pakistan's Usman Tariq, Salman Agha and Saim Ayub were able to put the arch-rivals under pressure in Colombo.
Netherlands’s Aryan Dutt bowled three overs in the powerplay on Wednesday and dismissed Abhishek and Ishan.
Doeschate acknowledged that batters need to find a way against fingers spinners. "I wouldn't say off spin, I'd say finger spin. If you take the combined, I think Pakistan bowled 14 overs of finger spin in the last game and off the top of my head I want to say something like 4 for 78 or something like that. So it's not great numbers,” said the assistance coach.
"Colombo was a particularly difficult wicket and I think the numbers tonight got sort of improved towards the back end. But again, Aryan Dutt bowling four overs, it is a big challenge.
"I think these two venues in particular with the bigger boundary here (Ahmedabad) and obviously a slower wicket in Colombo sort of does exaggerate that. But it's something we're going to have to focus on, like I said, with the amount of finger spin we're going to get in the next three games," he added.
India will face South Africa (February 22 in Ahmedabad), Zimbabwe (February 26 in Chennai) and the West Indies (March in Kolkata) in the Super 8 round.
"I think on better wickets you won't see it (batters struggling against spin). You can hit through the line with more confidence, but the point is that we need to have plans where the wickets do hold and the boundaries are there.
"We need to be able to have a game plan to deal with that threat," said Doeschate.
Abhishek Sharma was expected to be India's destroyer-in-chief in the tournament, but the left-handed opener bagged three consecutive ducks in the group-stage.
While the southpaw missed India’s Group A clash against Namibia due to stomach infection and fever, he couldn’t trouble scorers in the matches against USA, Pakistan and Netherlands.
Despite the hat-trick of ducks, Doeschate is not worried about Sharma's form. "He batted really well last night in the nets (on the eve of Netherlands game). He spent 90 minutes batting. I think we've also got to give him a bit of space. He came into the prep phase not feeling well, obviously spent a few days in hospital and then missed the game,” said the assistant coach.
"So it's been a very disjointed competition for him so far. But I saw some really good signs last night with his ball striking and instead of a hound in my heart, absolutely no worries about him. He'll be fine for the second phase," he remarked.
(With PTI Inputs)