Stepping into Gary146;s shoes

Sachin gives Zaheer batting lessons, as senior players and support staff try to make up for Kirsten8217;s absence.

If Gary Kirsten, who flew home on Tuesday night, has left his shoes behind, they may not fit him once he returns. For there were quite a few pairs of feet trying to fill them as India undertook their first net session in the absence of the coach.

Bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad was in-charge at the nets, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton spoke to the batsmen after their knocks while the seniors sacrificed their own training schedule to pass on a few words of wisdom to others.

And that was the reason the Indian team looked like an orderly class with able monitors sharing responsibilities in the absence of the teacher. Upton chose to underplay Kirsten8217;s absence, stating that there were able hands to guide the team while the coach was away.

8220;There are guys out there who have captained India. For me, it8217;s just a case of coordinating the expertise that is already there in the team. Gary would give his inputs and get the feedback from the players, and even though he8217;s not here, there are other experts,8221; he said.

Class monitors

Not far from where Upton spoke, Sachin Tendulkar seemed in a mood for an extended batting practice. He had outlasted specialist batsmen and had a rather unassuming net neighbour in Zaheer Khan. Between balls bowled by Prasad, Tendulkar reached out to Zaheer, who was making a conscious effort to play safe and defensive shots against the spinners.

Besides the regular net bowlers, Indian team8217;s computer analyst Dhananjay was attempting to bowl like Muttiah Muralitharan from around the wicket, and Zaheer wasn8217;t quite managing to keep the ball down. Tendulkar couldn8217;t hold back and decided to share a few tips.

He asked for a time-out from Prasad and showed Zaheer how the bat should come down, how the left foot should be extended to the pitch of the ball, and the way to smother the spin. Not just that, he even told Zaheer to imagine that he was surrounded by a crowd of close-in fielders around him. Thereafter, he repeatedly glanced towards the left to check if Zaheer was getting it right.

The tailpeice

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Getting substantial contribution from the tail-enders has been a cause of concern for the Indian team, and that8217;s what Kirsten had emphasised on Tuesday. 8220;We try and put plans in place for the lower order batsmen since we are not big believers in slogging when the need is to stick around. We would want our lower order batsmen to get 30 to 40 runs, and that happens to be a big part of our process,8221; he had said.

Before leaving for South Africa to be with his ailing mother, Kirsten had a long chat with Tendulkar and, maybe, this was one of the areas that the coach wanted his most-experienced batsman to look at.

So far in the series, it has been noticed that the tail-enders haven8217;t quite contributed. No partnerships towards the end have meant the batsmen running out of partners. With the series poised, the team management is leaving no stone unturned. That8217;s what Upton stressed upon.

8220;The key is to prepare for every single possibility. We know its 1-1, and we know how important it is. The players don8217;t need too many reminders. We focus around what needs to happen to win,8221; he said.