Charged Up

Their success and apparently easy assimilation into the national team are more remarkable given the circumstances under which they joined the elite group: either the death throes of the Ganguly/Wright regime or the turbulent last days of Ganguly8217;s captaincy.

Those were the days, at the pre-season camp in Bangalore and on the tour of Sri Lanka, when the mood was decidedly anti-Chappell. They would hear their seniors mocking Chappell8217;s fitness regime, or saying quote, 8216;8216;Why doesn8217;t he keep his mouth shut. Half the problems arise because he keeps talking.8217;8217;

Unsure of which way the wind was blowing, and uncertain of their future in the team, they kept quiet. 8216;8216;I stopped reading the papers and watching the news channels8217;8217;, one youngster told this paper in Sri Lanka. 8216;8216;The more I read or heard something, my mind would simply head in the wrong direction.8217;8217;

Eventually, when they found they could trust each other and, importantly, inspire each other to keep going, these men started hanging out together.

The best teams in any sport are marked by close personal friendships between the players and here, too, the bonding was apparent. Today, it8217;s rare to see RP Singh without Raina, his buddy from their Kanpur days; Dhoni and JP Yadav, meanwhile, are usually in one another8217;s rooms, a throwback to their days 8212; not so long ago, mind 8212; on the domestic circuit.

They had all worked hard to come this far, they8217;d paid their dues and had decided, as one of them said, not to allow 8216;8216;any petty controversy8217;8217; to spoil the opportunity that had come their way.

Once they started thinking positively, they began to understand what Chappell was trying to introduce in the Indian team. They understood that insecurity in Indian cricket was something that they8217;d always have to live with but the chances of their careers taking a sudden downfall were fewer with men like Chappell and Rahul Dravid around.

So they bought into the Chappell vision. 8216;8216;In a way whatever happened was good. Things are very transparent now and I8217;m better prepared to handle the pressure,8217;8217; says one young cricketer. He was the same player who, at the pre-season Bangalore camp, had criticised the coach. 8216;8216;This guy is a maniac8217;8217;, he8217;d told reporters then. 8216;8216;Not going to stay for long, I guess.8217;8217;

THE arrival of so many new faces says a lot for the much-maligned system. And their success lies rooted in the way they8217;ve come up. Like Sehwag, Yuvraj et al before them, today8217;s rookies are products of the India A team, which makes India A coach Sandeep Patil a very happy man.

8216;8216;The India A concept is aimed at filling the gaps in the national team. I8217;m happy to see as many as 15 players from India A reaching the next level,8217;8217; he says.

It doesn8217;t surprise him. 8216;8216;The youngsters know they8217;ll get few opportunities to shine. So they give their 200 per cent,8217;8217; he says.

Doesn8217;t that increase the pressure on them? For example, in Pune, Venu and Raina bearing in mind the fact that another team selection was on the cards and Mohammad Kaif and Sourav Ganguly were waiting in the wings. 8216;8216;There are no excuses8217;8217;, Patil says. 8216;8216;When a player is picked to play for the national squad there are no easy situations. He has to deliver.8217;8217;

The India A stint may even be responsible for the ease with which these players have adapted to Chappell8217;s famed flexibility fetish. The word is that Patil asks all his batsmen to pad up and, at the fall of a wicket, points to a player at random and says two words, 8216;8216;You go.8217;8217;

The India A coach doesn8217;t deny the story but is modest enough not to claim credit for 8216;8216;inventing8217;8217; the Chappell system. 8216;8216;As India A coach I do what the selectors and the coach of the senior team want me to do. So yes there were times Dhoni would bat at No.6 and later be promoted to No.3 where he scored some big runs against Zimbabwe and Kenya. But it all depends on the players.8217;8217;

DISCIPLINE is another Chappell buzzword but for Raina and RP Singh it8217;s old hat. The Gomti Nagar Sports Hostel in Lucknow, where they picked up their cricket education, is a stickler for discipline.

For a caution deposit of Rs 1,000, the hostel offers a wealth of education, things they didn8217;t teach you at the high-priced neighbourhood coaching camp. 8216;8216;It8217;s the atmosphere that makes this hostel special8217;8217;, says Pramod Gupta, coach, warden and in-charge. 8216;8216;Those who come in here are ready for advanced training, we don8217;t waste time in teaching them the basics. But the hostel life teaches them other lessons that can8217;t be taught in the cricket ground.8217;8217;

Discipline, to begin with. 8216;8216;Standing at the balcony of my room, I can see what each player is doing, I know their whereabouts.8217;8217; There8217;s a set time to everything, from morning training through breakfast, lunch, evening nets, study and watching TV.

Six hours of hard training six days a week sorts out the egos and replaces them with humility, manners and 8212; most importantly 8212; the need to help each other out. The facilities 8212; gym, swimming pool 8212; are excellent and the accommodation, food and kit are free. There8217;s one catch: Those who don8217;t perform are asked to leave because the queue to get in is long.

After this, Team India is a holiday resort.

For Raina and RP, the lessons from the Gomti Nagar hostel paid off in 2002 when they put in a stint at Kolkata8217;s Howrah Union club see 8216;We8217;re here to win8230;8217;. They were a refreshing change from the usual professionals from Delhi, less demanding in terms of fees and services, willing to mix with the other team members, reporting at the nets on time.

It was important for them to deliver, and deliver quickly, all the while under the microscope. It wasn8217;t easy, especially for RP, who had to bowl on flat wickets and with short boundaries. He didn8217;t disappoint; he didn8217;t pick up many wickets but his discipline and line won him admirers.

Raina8217;s job was easier yet it was the manner in which he got those runs that made him a special person. While it was a temptation to score off the short square boundaries, Raina preferred to play in the V, only rarely taking the aerial route.

If there was one facet of his cricket his teammates didn8217;t appreciate, it was his fondness for running twos 8212; unheard of on the Maidan!

TWO years ago, Raina was despondent for, despite his exploits with the India Under-19 team, he believed the Big Break wouldn8217;t come. He laughed when Pramod Gupta told him, after his return from a victorious Asia Cup campaign in 2003, that he would play for India soon. 8216;8216;How can I get into a team that has Sachin, Sourav, Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Kaif, Yuvraj?8217;8217;, he asked. 8216;8216;Still, I8217;ll do my best and stake my claim.8217;8217;

It8217;s that attitude that has got him, and his buddies, into Greg Chappell8217;s good books. As long as they remember their roots, they8217;ll continue to bloom.

8216;We8217;re here to win, let8217;s do it8217;
Suresh Raina was as confident at 15 as he was at Pune
NADIM SIRAJ

Suresh Raina8217;s confident, assertive innings in Pune on Thursday was appreciated by cricket fans all over but struck a special chord in Kolkata. That8217;s where, back in 2002, the soft-spoken southpaw 8212; then only 15 8212; played a season in the second division league.

In eight matches for Howrah Union, the standout was a dazzling 173 against favourites Bata Club during a semi-final clash. It8217;s still talked about by those who saw it.

Chasing an improbable 375 for victory in that match at the Rajasthan Club ground, Howrah were reeling at 20 for 2 off 4.5 overs when Raina walked in. Instead of taking guard, Raina confidently walked up to his senior partner Sarajit Chatterjee and said: 8216;8216;We8217;ve come here to win, let8217;s do it.8217;8217; It took his partner by surprise.

Sarveshwar Tewari, the man in charge of the club at the time, recalls: 8216;8216;Suresh went on to play a historic and memorable knock that upstaged the favourites. When he got out for 173, we were safely placed with just 20 runs needed for victory. The confidence and body language with which he returned to the pavilion said it all 8212; we knew he had it in him to make it big.8217;8217;

Raina 8212; headhunted, along with current India teammate RP Singh, for that season by Howrah Union 8212; also scored a whirlwind 52-ball century. 8216;8216;Suresh repaid the faith we had invested in him8217;8217;, says club general secretary Indranath Dey. 8216;8216;Almost single-handed, he pulled the club from the bottom of the standings to the top. Unfortunately, he couldn8217;t play in the final because he got a call from the NCA in Bangalore.8217;8217;

8216;8216;He was the humblest of players you could come across8217;8217;, says Rajesh Raja, a former manager on the junior circuit. 8216;8216;But his biggest asset was that his work ethic, which led to the Howrah Union officials spotting him and inviting him over. And it paid off.8217;8217;

SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
What were India8217;s newest faces doing exactly one year ago? All were involved in the Ranji Trophy, playing at Palakkad, not Pune, scoring at Jamshedpur, not Jaipur8230;
Suresh Raina

8226; Playing for UP against Punjab at Mohali, scored 61 and 42
After a successful stint in the Under-19 World Cup, Raina had just visited Australia under the Border-Gavaskar Scholarship and received personal training from Border

MS Dhoni
8226; Playing for Jharkhand against J038;K at Jamshedpur, scored 48
After almost being selected for the NatWest Trophy and the ICC knockout tourney, Dhoni made as the next Sehwag

Y Venugopala Rao
8226; Scored 140 and 60 n.o. for Andhra Pradesh against MP at Indore
Still fresh from the historic double hundred he scored against England 8216;A8217; in the Duleep Trophy

JP Yadav
8226; Scored 48 for Railways against Mumbai at Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi
Was busy helping Railways overcome poor facilities and eventually win the Ranji Trophy

RP Singh
8226; Took six wickets playing for UP against Punjab at Mohali
Having made a spectacular debut in the Ranji Trophy, he later helped UP clinch the Ranji one-day tournament

Sree Santh
8226; Took 5 wickets in an innings playing for Kerala against Himachal at Palakkad
Had already done a stint at the MRF Pace Academy, under the guidance of Dennis Lillee and TA Sekar