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Rain dampens inaugural practise session

The 15 day preparatory camp for the 22 probables, the first in the build up of the Indian team for the World Cup in England in 1999, got off to a wet start at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

A heavy drizzle forced Bobby Simpson, the consultant appointed by the BCCI, and national coach Anshuman Gaikwad to restrict the inaugural session to just a few physical exercises with the television camera whirring to capture some action.

The evening session was also called off, even as the weather cleared. The players, led by skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, exercised at the gym in the Taj Hotel and did some swimming exercises in the hotel pool.

The camp ends on September four with the announcement of the indian teams to compete in the Sahara Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

And there is threat of more rain hanging over the venue.

Gaekwad said the focus this time would be on improving the fielding standards of the players, with India slated to play in about ten tournaments before the Cup.

"It is important that we win all these tournaments", he said.

Asked about Simpson's role in shaping up the team, the former opening batsman said he was a senior player with a lot of experience. "Let us see what we can get from him", he added.

For his part, Simpson said he would try to introduce new training methods for practise and physical fitness in course of the camp.

He told the media that there were a lot of shortcomings in the Indian players when it came to fielding and running between wickets. "I will introduce new techniques in fielding and physical fitness, to try and take away these shortcomings," he said.

Asked about the television cameras being used to monitor the action, he said that at the end of each day, he would meet the players and review the day's work, studying the action on the video replays to point out shortcomings.

UNI