Sharp, short showers have been hitting the city of Bangalore over the past week, accompanied by a strong breeze that has kept the temperature hovering in the mid-20s. But the Indian cricket team, looking to sweat it out after a rare long holiday, are hoping that the rain will stay away as they attempt to extract as much as they can from a tightly squeezed four-day training camp.

On the first day on Thursday, they slipped into a different shade of blue as coach Gary Kirsten dedicated one-fourth of the camp to “connect” with players rather than asking them to pick up bat or ball, reminding them that they are just one tournament-win away from the No 1 spot in one-dayers.

“The one-day team has an 80 per cent win ratio. We take pride in our consistency. We would like to continue that,” Kirsten told reporters. “We feel that we have a quality team and the individuals are motivated to play for India. One of the things that we are proud of since facing Australia is that we’re playing as a team, and that we were playing for a big cause. There was a setback in the T20 World Cup, but it can happen to any world-class team. We’re looking forward and we’re looking at what we can achieve. The team spirit and the team unity as good as it has ever been,” the coach added.

The camp began with a post-breakfast meeting at the team hotel. It was more of an informal interaction, in which Kirsten and his staff, including bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh, briefed the team about the challenges of the coming season. The players were then asked, turn by turn, about their plans for the team, and their own personal objectives in the months to follow.

... contd.