India start with Namibia, coach covers all angles

They may be facing Namibia, not the most feared cricketing nation, but India are leaving nothing to chance. ‘‘It’s not about Namibia, it’s about opening the campaign,’’ says Prasad. ‘‘A good start is important. It breeds a winning habit and also an aura around the team.’’

The nets session, at a local club ground, was not a boring slog; improvisation was high on the agenda. For example, team bowlers were mixed along with rookie nets bowlers so that the batsmen would get a random distribution of good and bad deliveries and would have to deal with each on merit.

To encourage improvisation, one side of the field was a no-stroke zone, the other crowded with fielders; to clear them, the batsman had to hit over them. In addition, left-handers were asked to concentrate on the slog-sweep while the right-handers were forced to play the over-the-covers inside out stroke.

Prasad’s meticulous planning didn’t end there. His support staff skipped the nets to attend the Scotland-Sri Lanka match. There were two reasons for that: One, India’s match tomorrow is at the Premadasa; two, the teams playing today are also part of India’s group.

Unseasonal February rains meant the pitch was covered all through yesterday but today, in actual match play, it offered bounce and seam movement. After narrowly escaping with a 3-wicket win, Lanka skipper Angelo Mathew said, ‘‘I have never seen conditions like this before. The pace bowlers could get help all through the day.’’

With 80 per cent of the wickets to fall today going to the pacers, India can’t overtly bank on their spinners.

There’s another problem: With rain forecast, the Duckworth-Lewis rule could come into play. Against a lesser team that’s always a problem. But you can bet Prasad and his computer analyst Prasanna have covered that angle too.