Suryakumar and Gambhir have enjoyed great success in the shortest format.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Irrespective of the colour of the jersey, a team in transition has been a constant for India’s men’s cricket team. Unlike the Test squad, though, the men in the T20I blues have fared much better despite three big retirements and a change of guard after last year’s World Cup triumph.

Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, felt the Test squad has taken slightly longer time than the T20Is due to bigger shoes to fill in.

“I don’t really know how to answer that question. I haven’t noticed a big difference. I wish I could tell you this is vastly different or that’s vastly different,” ten Doeschate said here on Thursday.

“We just maybe got a little bit more of a challenge and maybe a bit more of a bigger profile to fill in the guys who have been playing the red ball and the 50-over cricket in the last few years.”

Ten Doeschate was relieved with Mohammed Shami having returned to the international arena after a 14-month injury break with a three-over outing in Rajkot. “I’m certainly very happy that he has come through his first game back in the Indian shirt unscathed,” he said.