“Third man slightly wide, gully, point, cover-point, covers and mid-off — that’s the field they keep for you. That square drive has been blocked,” fielding coach Robin Singh tells Gautam Gambhir as he tries to give the opener a match-feel at the nets.

The discussion about field placements goes on for a while, and they conclude that aiming straight over mid-off and mid-wicket could be options worth pursuing.

With Virender Sehwag ruled out of the series, the team management is aware of Gambhir’s importance to the side. Not just that, Gambhir knows that Sehwag’s absence means he has a chance to cap a fantastic one-day season by taking on the extra burden of playing the senior batsman’s role.

More responsibility

Mahendra Singh Dhoni admits that the team’s success in the ODI series largely depends on Gambhir.

“Obviously he’s part of the successful pair who scored a lot of runs in the Test series. Gambhir has been in great form, and we all expect him to provide some great starts. I won’t call it pressure to perform, I would say it’s an added responsibility on him,” he says.

Still brooding over the stiff neck that forced him out of the second one-dayer, Gambhir says: “It was really bad, but now I’m fine and will play,” and then asks about the wicket. “Will it be any good for batsmen?”

It was a question hard to answer for both the teams on Friday because the hosts have prepared three different strips at the R Premadasa Stadium. But considering Gambhir’s recent show in varying conditions, it is likely that he wouldn’t be bothered much about the type of surface he gets on Sunday.

... contd.