Karachi, July 1: In a game where collective effort is quite important, India’s coach Gary Kirsten prefers nursing individuals separately in an attempt to make a difference. Since the time Kirsten took over, he and Paddy Upton, India’s mental conditioning coach, have spent a reasonable amount of time systematically working on player after player — an effort which they firmly believe leads to a well-oiled chain of performers.

Be it the tri-series in Bangladesh or the current Asia Cup in Pakistan, the South African duo, have been maintaining a daily ledger of each and every member in the squad.

A team of individuals

“I have worked with individuals and that’s the work I enjoy doing. For me, it is about building relationships with them, understanding them better, what they want to do and their game. It helps bring in a system that makes planning better,” Kirsten said.

Kirsten and Upton have gone about creating separate pages for all players that lists things such as the daily water intake of a player, the manner in which the player sweats, the ability to sustain certain weather conditions, the amount of bowling that the player can handle on a continuous basis and particular stretches he needs after each session.

Big picture

But while all the details are important, Gary Kirsten will be hoping it all comes together and India click as a team when they take on Pakistan in the Asia Cup match that is practically a semi-final.

Pakistan are in a must-win situation after losing to India in the group stages and Sri Lanka in the Super Fours. India, on the other hand, can seal a spot in the final if they overcome the hosts on Wednesday.

The Indian side has been in top batting form, everything clicking nicely in a 300-run chase against the hosts in the league phase. At the same time, the fielding has been shambolic in parts, while the bowling hasn’t looked too impressive either — especially when they went for 274 against Bangladesh.

Fielding lapses

But Kirsten is not overtly bothered with the lapses. “We are not overtly concerned about our fielding. The heat is taking its toll and it is unfair to expect players to play top cricket continuously. The heat is at 35 degrees, plus there’s the humidity as well,” Kirsten said.

Sweating it out

The conditions and the unrelenting schedule notwithstanding, the Indians haven’t missed a single day’s training. While the players have been given the choice of optional net sessions, especially on days that aren’t match-eves, none of them have missed out so far.

“Actually, practicing on an off-day helps you concentrate on issues which are otherwise ignored while preparing for matches,” middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma said.

Interestingly, Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina are two players who seem to be spending maximum time with Upton. The two strongly believe in the value of the support staff and the need to make themselves understood better.

Pathan sums it up, “It helps if individual problems are sorted out before any team actually gets together for practice. It helps the team gel well.”

As long as they start taking their catches...