Both teams were asked to hand out five names and the order in which they would bowl. Was it difficult?

Not really, says the bowling coach. The confidence came from the practice sessions they had. The selection trials had already given Venkatesh Prasad options. “I was very confident when we came to the bowl-out stage. I had to leave out Dhoni from that list, because he was very keen to bowl. Even when we were practising in the break ahead of the bowl-out, all our boys bowled and we were enjoying it. In fact, we have been practising bowl-out ever since the England tour. We divide (the team) into two groups and have competitions in this. So yesterday was just one more competition, with the other batch standing out, also wanting them to win for a change,” he smiles.

Prasad says there’s a bit of science in his selection of the top five. “You see, the idea is to pick guys with the straightest action, as in revolving around the principle of gaining the shortest distance between two points. Sometimes, regular bowlers can get the ball to swing automatically, so I had to take into account even that,” he explains.

“You look at the bowlers I chose. Virender Sehwag hadn’t bowled throughout the match. And Uthappa. Can you believe that?” asks Prasad, excitement of the match still reflecting in his eyes. “Actually Uthappa was the easiest choice for me, he has been consistent in our practice and there was no pressure on him. So it clicked perfectly,” he says.

... contd.