Waiting to exhale

The day before another epochal tour, he’s caught in two minds. Should he relax and spend time with family and friends? It’s very tempting, so he skips his ‘‘routine’’ in the morning and prepares to leave for Lahore. But he’s not comfortable, he’s fidgety and eventually, around 4 p.m. he reaches for the kitbag and drives down to the Guru Gobind Singh College ground for one ‘‘last session’’.

That’s the kind of dedication and perseverance that separates Chopra from the rest of his ilk. ‘‘Practice makes a man perfect. I am not yet perfect. Though I may not need any technical change to my batting at the moment, I have to be at it all the time,’’ says Chopra as he puts on the pad and selects a pair of gloves for a session.

Chopra has already forgotten the tour of Australia, though his achievements were considerable. He faced 532 deliveries for an aggregate of 186 runs with a couple of fifties, helping the middle order build on the solid starts he and Virender Sehwag gave. Today, it matters little to him. ‘‘This is a fresh tour, the expectation and hype are so much I have to be on my toes right till the end. I have no time to relax,’’ he adds.

Has he done anything special to prepare himself to face the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami? ‘‘Nothing special. Having faced Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, I have the confidence to tackle the pace of Shoaib and Sami. But the wickets in the sub-continent will not have the kind of bounce we encountered in Australia and it should suit my batting style,’’ says Chopra with a chuckle.

Chopra’s success Down Under lay in the fact that he stuck to the team plan all the time. ‘‘My job was very specific: to see off the new ball, irrespective of who the bowler was. In Pakistan, too, the brief to me will probably be the same,’’ says Chopra.

Though Chopra is reluctant to rest on the Oz laurels, he’s willing to draw on the experience. He recalls the Brisbane track where the ball was seaming around and doing ‘‘quite a bit’’ all the time. ‘‘In the first 10 minutes I realised the quality of bowling — absolutely top class. I have never faced anything like that in my career. I had a good idea of my off-stump and I decided to stick to the basics and play to my strengths. That’s precisely what I will do in Pakistan,’’ says the 27-year-old.

His coach Tarak Sinha, however, has one piece of advice to his ward: ‘‘The only flaw I found in his batting was that he was not transferring his weight well when on the front foot. That was the reason he was not able to capitalise on the good starts he has had there, he tends to play the ball in the air while driving. But there will not be much bounce on Pakistan wickets as they are typically sub-continental in nature,’’ says Sinha.

And Chopra believes he can handle the reverse swing as well. ‘‘Why not? I am confident about that and am looking forward to the new experience,’’ says Chopra, signing off to take a fresh guard.

Ajit Agarkar has tasted success in Pakistan, but not with the senior side. He tells JAIDEEP MARAR just how much this means to him

Ajit Agarkar’s career-graph resembles a roller-coaster. Exceptional performances have shared the same pedestal as ordinary displays. Consistency, then, is what the 26-year-old aspires for these days. An injury may have kept him out from the hype-laden Indo-Pak ODIs but the now-fit Agarkar is raring to make a statement in Pakistan. As he did five years ago while turning out for India A — performances which catapulted him into the National team.

The recent tour to Australia saw Agarkar spearheading the Indian attack with aplomb. The intense duels took its toll on the wiry all-rounder as he suffered a stress fracture on his leg. The injury sidelined him for more than a month.

But mention ‘‘Pakistan’’ and all the vagaries of facing arduous, back-to-back tours vanish without a trace. The medium-pacer, who has been training hard since making himself available for the Tests in Pakistan, terms it as one of his biggest challenges. Excerpts from a conversation the day before he left for Lahore:

What does this Test series mean to you personally

• A lot. Especially because it is against Pakistan. I have never played a Test against them. I was injured when they toured India the last time (1999). It is a big series and a great challenge.

Any targets?

• There are a few. At this stage I like to keep it to myself.

How have you been preparing for the series, mentally and otherwise

• I have been around (on the international circuit) for a few years to understand the situation. This time the focus has been basically on fitness (Agarkar missed the ODI series with Pak owing to a shin injury).

After an exhausting series in Australia, how demanding is it to gear up for another equally arduous one.

• It is not very easy. But once the series starts you tend to forget everything else. Especially if the opposition is Pakistan!

Does the hype turn on the players?

• Probably there are only a few guys who read the newspapers (during a series). I try and avoid reading anything, at least while playing. Turning out for India in itself is the biggest motivation.

How have you coped with injuries

• It is a physical game. There have been a couple of stress fractures since the past five years and maybe a couple more down the line. But I have tried to stay injury-free for the past two years or so. The present injury was probably due to the hard wickets in Australia.

Your earlier trip to Pakistan in 1997 with the India A was quite successful (he picked up 16 wickets in three ‘Tests’).

• That experience should come handy. But the pressure of playing for the Indian team will always be different. Besides, I have only played at Lahore. Multan and Faisalabad are new venues for me.