Flexibility to remain the key

Team meetings are usually closed-door affairs, but today India decided to think on their feet with an impromptu mid-field conference.

Team meetings are usually closed-door affairs, but today India decided to think on their feet with an impromptu mid-field conference. With their opening game against the West Indies on Thursday, the 15 men and support staff huddled next to the central square at the practice ground for a unique interactive session.

Coach Greg Chappell threw questions and situations at the players and, without bat or ball in their hands, they answered them by speaking out their course of action. Example: What will you do with 10 overs to go, the field spread and pressing the pedal is the need of the hour?

The batsman in question was expected to give specific details of his game plan. And at the end of the about 15-minute Q038;A it was time to put the words into action. The batsman with pads on this time had to play the promised shots and the coach while fielding at short mid-on made a mental note as he compared the talk with the walk.

Ask the coach about the session and specially the meeting of minds. 8220;We gave the players various situations and tried to get their views on them. These were about the various stages of the game and the fielding placements that they would encounter,8217;8217; he said. Team8217;s support staff Ian Fraser didn8217;t quite give the details, but in an off-handed way tried to give a mysterious touch to the session. 8220;We were discussing secret plans for our opening game,8217;8217; he said.

With regular middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh to miss the first game and the batting shuffle expected, the players might find themselves in roles they are not used to. With the team8217;s think tank expected to stick with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid as openers and Virender Sehwag to follow, the names against numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 are still open to debate.

This means flexibility lower down and no fixed roles for the likes of Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia and MS Dhoni. Add to that the floating all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who has the experience of batting anywhere 1 to 7, and one has the prospect of a malleable batting order with no rigidity of role in it.

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid too has stressed this point. 8220;It all depends on the conditions and situation. If the need arises, we consider all options available to us. The important aspect is that we play well and are focussed on achieving it and then the results will take care of other things,8221; he said.

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And that was the reason Irfan Pathan and MS Dhoni were trying to cover the in-field while padding up against the pacer 8212; an exercise more suited for the initial overs. And Mongia and Raina stepped out to loft the spinners 8212; something a batsman needs to do while facing the slow bowlers in the mid-overs.

Another interesting aspect of the session today was Sachin Tendulkar8217;s role during the team meeting. From the boundary ropes 8212; that8217;s the closest one can ever expect to be in the role of a fly on the wall for Team India8217;s team meeting 8212; the rapt attention of the entire squad was visible when a highly animated Tendulkar took centre stage. Last time when Tendulkar made a comeback after an injury-forced hiatus 8212; in October, 2005 for the Sri Lankan series 8212; Chappell for the first time gave him the role of a mentor. As he makes another comeback after another injury, the Mentor8217;s chair has remained vacant, for him.

Besides, with Tendulkar8217;s just-healed shoulder forcing him to field on the centre square, he is back to being a part of Team India8217;s core group 8212; both figuratively and physically.