Pest Control

8216;8216;Technique is a misnomer,8221; Frazer responds. 8216;8216;It is just in the length of their arms, the way they use it.8217;8217; After that, there is silence. I get the hint.

VVS Laxman and Suresh Raina are at the crease and I see Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh lapping the field, arm in arm. Choreographers could learn a thing or two from the way they dance around the rope. And cheerleaders too. They flirt with every fielder on the boundary. And cheer 8216;Jogi8217; Joginder Sharma into his first delivery.

But the match, while an interesting affair, is not a patch on Chappell8217;s improvisation, which I witness the next day. Instead of nine, 31 guys field, and the batsmen have to only run. The aim? To improve the running between the wickets, fielders8217; coordination and direct hits.

The first direct hit comes from the coach himself, as he runs out Dinesh Kaarthick. And then, from the square leg boundary, I see every player applaud as the old man throws himself at a rapidly disappearing ball.

I quite like the man. Immediately after the first day8217;s match, I saw him summon Irfan Pathan to the nets and get him to bat.

An hour later, he gets Pathan and

S Ramakrishnan, the team8217;s laptop man, together, views a few of Pathan8217;s videos and analyses Pathan8217;s batting. I am reminded of the hard fact that India is still looking for an all-rounder.

A long day is made longer as we follow the players into their hotel, where Yahaan, a 8216;patriotic8217; film, is being screened. Turns out the screening is private and I lug my sweaty self to an eatery nearby.

Early next day, I hit the ground with Bangalore boy Rahul Dravid. All attempts at a morning chat are dismissed by The Wall.

It8217;s the same with Chappell a little later, but I hang on with bulldog-like tenacity.

Dravid soon runs to the dressing room area, where Chappell is waiting with a laptop and his cell phone. A lengthy discussion ensues between the two and I turn my attention to Harbhajan who, oblivious of the selection committee meeting and the team announcement, is practising with six young Bangalore spinners.

8216;8216;I will hit in the air, let8217;s see how many I can hit out of the ground,8217;8217; he says, standing in one corner of the ground. Harbhajan mishits the first one. The bowler shouts, 8216;8216;Out, caught at midwicket.8217;8217;

When he is declared out again, he childishly says, 8220;That was a six, I have played more cricket than you.8217;8217; I laugh at the argument and he smiles back, signalling he knows he was selling a dummy.

The other players are also out now and there8217;s seems to be long hair everywhere. Irfan Pathan, JP Yadav, MS Dhoni8230; everybody has some extra locks these days. Which reminds me of another in-thing8212;the term 8216;thinking hats8217;. Thanks to Edward de Bono, it8217;s floating around like the flu here.

I see Yuvraj Singh come out of the dressing room. 8216;8216;T-r-a-a-i-n-e-r,8217;8217; he calls out in an Aussie accent. Tryner is the team8217;s Australian physical trainer Greg King8217;s nickname. 8216;8216;You got your thinking cap on?8217;8217; asks Yuvraj. 8216;8216;It8217;s a white one and it means I want some information,8217;8217; says King as they move aside and start chatting. But King8217;s wearing a black hat, I think. Hmmm8230; time I read some Bono myself.