Defending the Indian cricketers by saying they were working hard on their fitness, Kokinos said genetics and heredity also played a vital role in shaping the physical prowess of a person.

But the trainer admitted that progress in the fitness levels of Indian cricketers had not been as rapid as he had expected it would be.

Kokinos disagreed with Sunil Gavaskar's view that Indian players would do well to imbibe lessons from athletic coaches to improve their stride length and speed of running between the wickets.

``It is a wrong notion that big strides mean more speed,'' he said, adding that Rahul Dravid had small strides but was one of the fastest runners between the wickets in the Indian team. Gavaskar had made his remarks while doing commentary in the India-Sri Lanka tie at Nagpur onApril 22.