NEW DELHI: India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate addressed the issue of Pakistan batter Sahibzada Farhan’s provocative celebration after reaching his fifty, where he mimicked firing a gun with his bat. Doeschate emphasized that India’s focus remained on controlling their own behavior and “sticking to cricket.”“They had a very good start. I don’t think they got carried away with it. We managed to pull it back really well after 10 overs. Given the situation, you can see why the opposition behaved that way, but we were very focused on how we wanted to behave. I think we stuck to the cricket really well,” he said.He added, “It would have been easy to lose our minds at that point, given the celebration and some of the words from the Pakistan bowling unit. I thought the guys stuck to the task of getting the job done and winning the game. Like I said, not at our very best—lots to work on—but still managing to win comfortably is very pleasing for us.”Doeschate also spoke about India’s middle-order plans, particularly Sanju Samson’s role at No. 5. With skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma slated for No. 3 and 4, Samson is adjusting to the responsibilities of pacing an innings in that position.“Yeah, he has had two outings now, two decent chances, and he’s still figuring out how to play that role. I think the wicket was a little tighter in the Pakistan game,” he said.Samson made a 17-ball 13 in the Super 4s clash against Pakistan.“But certainly with the way Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma are performing at the top, and your captain batting at three alongside Tilak, we really need someone dependable at No. 5. We believe Sanju is the best man for that job and have no doubt he’ll figure out how to play that role in the future,” Doeschate noted.
