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All systems go!

Physio Chaddha wears a mean glove behind the wicket; the Sardar's other side; Sachin goes the whole hog; and Gaekwad sounds combative... Vignettes from the Indian cricket team's days of net practice before the Kiwi tour.

Please clear this area, no clicking pictures of cricketers near the dressing room," ordered Raj Singh Dungarpur. Not that Rediff photographer Jewella Miranda was clicking pix of the guys with their pants down but nevertheless, the president of BCCI, the richest sports association in India, can't be trifled with either. The next time His Highness was seen, it was with some Board members next to the dressing room, even as avid lensmen clicked away to glory. Well, you shrug, this shows the BCCI's fickle nature, of which examples are aplenty both on and off the field.

***

So after a very long period the Indian training camp was held in Amchi Mumbai, at the CCI club aka the Brabourne Stadium. "Tendlya yenaar ahe ithe (Tendulkar is going to be here)," I overheard enthusiastic autograph-seekers telling each other, armed with memento bats, books, posters and the like. The time was 0730 hours and the CCI grounds, which otherwise only has a few health conscious members going through their regimen, looked like a carnival now, with hordes of fans trying to get a glimpse, an autograph, a handshake, just about anything to take home.

***

At 0730 hours, the 14 flanneled fools kicked off the proceedings with a soccer match, after the regular warm-up exercises. Out strode the Bangalore Boys, Prasad and Joshi, and Rahul; debating a point in their native tongue.

***

There was something very patchy about the way our cricketers go about their fielding practice. There are two ways of taking a catch; either the fingers point towards the ball, with the body behind it, or the open palms facing the ball as it settles in, which is more popular with the Aussies and the Springboks. With our players, it was more about holding on to the catch any which way, fair enough I suppose given that is what matters most. But when you are practising catches, you decide which style suits you better and then stick to it. Our players' manner seemed to suggest that there was no thinking behind the catching practice.

Well, as for throws, the less said the better. With the exception of Saurav Ganguly and Azhar, none of the guys managed to knock the lone stump out of the ground with any level of consistency. In fact, that provoked Anshuman Gaekwad to put in another stump to hear the wood rattle.

By the way, who said we are going to New Zealand with a lone wicket keeper? Ravinder Chadha is the spare, judging by the time he spent with the keepers' gloves on.

***

Raj Singh Dungarpur explained the reason for holding the camp only in the forenoons: the players are tired and lethargic in the post-lunch session!

The point that needed labouring was that just going through the motions does not serve any purpose. There has to be discipline, intent, during practice. Practice alone does not make perfect, perfect practice is what finally matters, to recall the words of Adille Sumariwala, the former national 100 metres record holder, during one of our school athletic meets.

The same goes for the nets. Bobby Simpson, our consulting coach, when he was Australia coach, used to keep telling his players at the nets that they would have to imagine the fielders and execute their shots. That conditions players to cope with real match situations, gears them up for the big occasion.

***

There were occasions when the seriousness of the situation came through. Once V V S Laxman bowled to Ganguly who danced down the wicket and lofted the cherry high up to long off. Ganguly immediately said it was a six, whereas Laxman insisted he was out. Well, Dada -- as he is popularly known -- danced down the pitch the next time Laxman bowled and hit the cherry into the stands, and looked back at Laxman with an inquiring look.

Talking about competitiveness, Sachin would bag the prize if there was one for being best player at the camp.

His enthusiasm, his involvement in the game at all times, was plain awesome. Rahul Dravid and Ajit Agarkar would be the only contenders. But for them, throughout the camp there was a laid-back approach. During fielding Azhar looked particularly serious. And of course, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who tried to look oh-so serious while fielding. As soon as he was done with the willow, he would get physio Chaddha, to the place closest to Jayant Lele and Dungarpur, so that he was in their line of vision. Well, so much for the man who only in the last camp didn't take the field, blaming the blisters on his foot, but was playing soccer a day after he made it to the team to Toronto!

***

There was another revealing incident involving Sidhu. The Sardar was returning to the pavilion after another of those fielding practice sessions, when a bespectacled man strode up to him, hand extended in greeting. Sidhu smiled back, assuming the man to be a fan or scribe, the look on his face saying it all.

"Hello, I am Anil Deshmukh." The half-smile Sidhu had on his face then stretched all across his face, and it was a Sidhu transformed. "Yes sir, very glad to meet you," he was all earnestness. "Remember you came to my home last year, while you were in the city?" I heard a 'yes' even before the selector was through with his query...

***

Besides Azhar, Sidhu and Nayan Mongia, everyone had a bowl on all four days of the camp. It was nice to see Ajay Jadeja bowling again, for it will be a real advantage if India can have another bowler in the line-up. It will give Azhar more options, and that would be a great advantage in England next year.

The bowlers also got an extended stint with the willow in the nets. This was a welcome change from earlier times when the bowlers hardly batted in the nets, and that puts the tem on the back foot when the top order collapsed.

Again, there is something about Sachin when he is at the nets. He has to try out something new. He will get the bowlers to bowl a particular line to him.

"Jaast war kar (pitch it up further)," he kept telling Agarkar, asking him to use the shadow of the nets pole as the place to pitch the ball.

Azhar and Ajay looked pretty vulnerable against pace while Harbhajan Singh got smashed by one and all, though he got Azhar and Ajay a couple of times through the gate; but that is not to take credit away from the young Sardar. Javgal Srinath, for one, is a very aggressive customer at the nets, very blunt and focused. "Drive karo ball," he screamed at Azza when he tried another of those flicks.

***

Anyway, you can never really judge the form of a player in the nets. If that were the criteria then Dilip Vengsarkar would never have played Test cricket. He was one guy who struggled badly in the nets but looked a winner when he walked out to the pitch.

Rahul seemed to have made a minor adjustment in his batting. Earlier, when he drove the ball, his foot would be right up to the pitch of the ball, with the body right above. By no means is that incorrect technique but by doing so he would hit the ball on the ground real hard, taking the force off it. What he now seems to have done is get behind the line of the ball and also keep his foot behind the pitch of the ball. He looked so good hammering the bowlers around, timing the lofted drives real well. But one must say that the way he comes in to bat at the nets seems like he is batting on the first day of a Test.

***

There was this character at the camp I met who really provided the lighter moments besides Jadeja. He goes by the name of Ashok, a naturo-therapist who camps with the Indian cricketers when they are in Bombay. I introduced myself to him when I didn't find Andrew Kokinos around, although he was not amused when I asked him who he was. "You don't know me? P T Usha ko jaante ho? (do you know P T Usha?)" he asked me, "I got her back on her feet when she was injured."

After he was through with the long introduction to himself, besides the truckload of his patients, I asked him what he thought of Andrew's contribution towards team fitness. "Arre, bachcha hai woh to, jo koi player exercise batata hai wohi kara deta hai (he is a kid, whatever the players suggest he goes along with it)." But everyone in the team has been saying that he has been of great help to them. "That way Ali Irani fooled the BCCI for ten years and got away with it, does it matter? And, did anyone ever say anything bad about Ali?"

But what about Dr Chadda, isn't he doing a good job, I queried teasingly.

"Arre, homoeopath hai woh, bas abhi degree leli, bangaye doctor (he is a homoeopath, got a degree recently and now he is doctor of the Indian team)."

***

In the midst of all this I caught up with the diminutive master backtracker, Shri Jaywant Lele, Board secretary. I pounced upon him, buzzing around like a bee. "Sir, could you tell me if you are happy with the selection of the team?"

"Yes, of course. But I am not supposed to answer all this, why don't you ask the selectors?"

"Is Harbhajan still under the shadow of doubt, like you stated?"

"I have made no such statement. The press is out to malign me."

"But didn't you say that he has still not been cleared?"

"Arre, if he had not been cleared then how come he is in the camp?"

"But doesn't Fred Titmus's clearance hold any water for the ICC?"

"Yes, Titmus has corrected him and I said he is still being watched. Maybe he might revert to his old action."

"So you think he was chucking earlier?"

"That is what they said, so we have to adhere to it."

"But what do you feel?"

"Well, does that matter?" *Shrug*

"But Sri Lanka didn't drop Murali or Dharmasena when they were called for chucking?"

"Arre, what do you know! Dharmasena has been to Titmus. Even in the match against Pakistan he kept bowling from the end where there was a Sri Lankan umpire. Why are you blaming me? I can't help it."

"And anyway, isn't Harbhajan Singh playing now, see there he is."

"But then, why was he dropped for the Wills Mini World Cup and Sharjah?"

"Arre, now what more can we do?"

End of conversation.

***

Anshuman Gaekwad, the Indian coach, sounded very optimistic about his team's chances in the forthcoming tour of New Zealand. Clad in electric blue tracks and white T-shirt, Gaekwad was brimming with confidence and sounded very content with the training sessions.

When quizzed about the opening pair combination for Tests Gaekwad replied they had three openers to choose from and that after the two four-day games they would be able to decide as to who will partner Sidhu.

India has not won a Test series in New Zealand after M A K Pataudi led his team to a series victory over the Kiwis 31 years ago. Doesn't that put extra pressure on the team to succeed? "Not necessarily," he replied, "Let's sweep the past aside and go with a positive frame of mind. In fact, this should help us push ourselves even more. You need to look at your strengths and aim at winning.

"Everything else follows."

"Is the five-bowler formula going to be a permanent Indian feature?"

"No, not at all. We will have to assess the situation and then plan further. It's an option that we have to decide upon, depending on the pitch."

Explaining Andrew Kokinos's absence, Gaekwad said the young Aussie had a personal problem, and that he would join the team in New Zealand.

But would having a four-day camp help? Gaekwad immediately said this was not a camp, it was merely a training session for the players to regroup after a layoff.

About the lack of bench strength, Gaekwad ducked it by throwing back the query, so which players were we talking of replacing. When it was rephrased and put across, what if any of the players was injured, do we have players of the same calibre to replace them like the Aussies or South Africans do? The coach replied there was no room for ifs and buts in cricket. These questions stand meaningless.

Claiming that India had the best bowling attack in the world, he asked which other team had four strike bowlers. Of course, Australia didn't occur to him.

Speaking about the Kiwis, he felt they were a side that could not be taken lightly and felt that they were well versed with home conditions and they are moulding into a top class unit.

***

Of course, players aren't supposed to talk to the press during the camp, this particular rule was laid down by Gaekwad himself. Worse was to follow when I met Madan Lal. When I asked him if we could speak, he said he did not want to get into any further controversy and that he was not supposed to talk to the press, being a member of the selection committee. "But Ajit Wadekar gave me an interview when he was a member of the selection committee..."

"That is Mr Wadekar, you see."

Ashok Malhotra expressed similar views as did Anil Deshmukh.

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda