No words,only actions in camp India

In the first warm-up game,against New Zealand,he came in at the slog and fell to Daniel Vettori. In the second training match,Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma hogged all the time in the centre. And in India’s tournament opener against Bangladesh,he got a massive cheer from the stands when he walked out to bat in the 19th over of the innings. Unfortunately,he faced just one delivery over the next 12 as first Suresh Raina and then younger brother Irfan kept the strike.

During the second Indian Premier League campaign,Rajasthan Royals were hit hard by the absence of their title-winning hero Shane Watson,and in his absence,it was Yusuf around whom their inexperienced batting revolved. “I have begun enjoying such situations,” Yusuf had said just after the IPL,when asked about batting at the fag end of innings. “I simply look at it as my job — even if my team need 20 runs per over,I think I can get it.”

He played a couple of blinders —most memorably in the Super Over win against Kolkata Knight Riders — but here,the Indian team’s batting strength actually seems to be working against lower middle-order batsmen.

Sehwag still missing

On Monday morning,having first belted them around for a while,he got into the nets for a lengthy session,treating both pace and spin with equal disdain. He’ll hope he gets as much time out in the middle as well soon.

Virender Sehwag,meanwhile,stayed away from the optional net session,but there were no updates on the injury that has kept him out of the action so far. Zaheer Khan,who recovered from a shoulder niggle in time to play the first game,had only a short spell at the nets. A decision on player availabilities,an official said,would be taken only on the eve of their game against Ireland.

No talking

There is,in fact,very little information coming out of the Indian camp,with Dhoni’s irritation over stories of a rift not fading away. The team’s show of strength — they all lined up as a statement rubbishing the stories was read out a few days ago — has now extended to their interactions with the travelling journalists; together,they have decided not to speak to the media outside of the ICC’s mandatory pre and post-match press conferences.

The large media contingent,left with little to do,shifted focus to a sports goods manufacturer who had brought some bats along for Dhoni to try out; they weigh between 2 pounds 12 ounces and 2 pounds 13,incidentally. And they have very fine grains.

As long as India’s big bats continue to do the talking,the rest doesn’t really matter.