India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate hinted at losing patience with Nitish Kumar Reddy after the all-rounder endured another failure in the second ODI against New Zealand in Rajkot on Wednesday (January 14).

Reddy, the sole change in India's playing XI for the second ODI, scored 20 off 21 balls while batting at No. 7 and returned with the bowling figures of 0/13 in two overs.

Riding on Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 131, the Kiwis overhauled the target of 285 with seven wickets in hand and 15 deliveries to spare, setting up a series-decider on Sunday (January 18) in Indore.

"With Nitish, we keep talking about developing him and getting him game time and then when you do get him game time, he often ends up not doing a heck of a lot in the games," ten Doeschate told reporters after the match.

"For someone who's making their way, particularly with the bat tonight (Wednesday), it was that perfect chance where you're walking in that situation, and you've got a chance to spend 15 overs at the wicket. You really have to take those chances to push your case to be selected," he added.

In hindsight, the Dutchman admitted that India would have preferred playing a third spinner instead of Reddy, considering the performance of visiting spinners.

"If you look at the combinations we have played in the past, we do like the extra spinner. To bring Ayush (Badoni) into the squad at the very last minute with Washy (Washington Sundar) going down in the (last) game, we thought Nitish should be better suited on this track," he said.

"Looking at the way the New Zealand spinners bowled, we could have done (it) with another spinner."

Even though senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma turned up for their respective state teams in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 following the BCCI's diktat, ten Doeschate felt the latter is "short on cricket".

"Rohit, I thought tonight particularly, both innings was a real new-ball wicket. It didn't look easy to bat. Over a short period of time if you take the first ODI, he's (Rohit) not been as fluent as he has been and that's going to be a challenge for him, not playing cricket between series," the assistant coach said.

Asked if Rohit has made a conscious approach to change his batting style according to the wicket, ten Doeschate replied, "I don't think it's a conscious approach. He's such a brutal player, but he's actually a touch player at the end of the day. He times the ball... so as soon as the wickets aren't very good, it's going to be difficult for him to look in fluent mode like he normally is."

"He's definitely not the sort of guy to play for himself. It's just a combination of the wickets being slightly difficult and maybe just being a little bit short on cricket leading into the series."

Invited to bat first, the hosts reached a competitive 284/7 in 50 overs on the back of KL Rahul’s eighth ODI century. The wicketkeeper-batter walked in when India were struggling at 115/3 and soon slumped to 118/4 with in-form Virat Kohli being dismissed for 23. However, Rahul carried on for almost 30 overs, finishing with an unbeaten 112 off 92 balls.

Ten Doeschate backed Rahul to bat at No. 5, considering his current form. "KL is certainly good enough to be at No. 5. That was a quality hundred there and also the toll that keeping takes on guys in 50-overs cricket, (it) isn't that bad. It's not like we're protecting him," he said.

"One of our strategies in the last 18 months has been to prolong that batting order and we do like to use the all-rounder either high up the order or at No. 5 like we've done with Washy in the past.

"But that certainly is an avenue to explore. With KL finding the form that he's in now, he can be a regular No. 5 and (then) you play all-rounders," he added.

Ryan ten Doeschate was also critical of Ravindra Jadeja’s underwhelming returns in ODI cricket of late.

"I don't think he's feeling the heat. His stats are crazy and he's probably been a bit light on wickets of late.

"But it's not a concern. The things we've looked at in terms of his pace that he's bowling, the things we've asked him to work on, I feel like he is actually bowling better. So, hopefully the wickets will follow with a bit of a lag," he added.

(With PTI Inputs)