Melbourne and Perth are like home and away. The heat here is searing, the ball at the WACA flies menacingly and the elements often gang up against visitors to unsettle even the best laid plans. By all accounts, this is hostile territory.
So, it is in India’s stead that they have come to this far away outback city after annexing two top matches and sitting atop the Group B points tally. Add to this a relatively stress free match against new entrants UAE to kick off with and all seems well.
However, well embedded in its special World Cup mission now, skipper M S Dhoni and his men are taking no chances and doing their best to keep the momentum going, both on and off the field. This was seen in full play at the three-hour training session that the squad went through at the imposing WACA grounds on Wednesday, of course after a 90-minute football session.
As the sun burnt down straight on Perth at 37 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and bush fire warnings echoed city advisories, Team India had to delay nets from the scheduled 2 pm to 3.30 pm. They also changed their regular bat and bowl net sessions to focus full time on an intense, innovative and yet playful fielding drill in two interactive sessions held by fielding coach Sridhar and assistant coach Sanjay Bangar. One was all about managing “time stress” and the other about speed and distance throwing at the stumps.
India is in Perth for its longest haul of the World Cup, spending 11 days in this distant capital of western Australia and playing UAE on February 8 and West Indies on March 6 before moving on to a totally different – and much cooler – terrain in New Zealand’s Hamilton where they meet Ireland.
India’s record at Perth has not been too good but that will only be testing the adaptability of its boys, something which Dhoni has repeatedly said is on a high. As was on display at training, Bangar took up the boys to a tennis ball dummy catching session meant to improve their reflexes and adapt them to split second catch situations.
As he hit the ball with a tennis racquet, the boys queued up with the first one in the line dodging and the next one having to grab it without premise. Needless to say, Kohli and Raina soared in points but others, like Shami, were not too far behind either though they are unlikely candidates to field at point or in the slips where a second’s delay can be fatal for a team’s chances.
Intimidated by the heat, team director Ravi Shastri watched most of the proceedings from the air-conditioned confines of the dressing room as coach Duncan Fletcher sweated it out in supervising the proceedings mid-field.
As one saw the group practising hard to tame impossibilities on the field, the mind kept going back to the throws by Mohit and Shami at the MCG and Dhoni being vocal about his team’s “fitness first” at the World Cup.
Thanks to the fielding capsules set in place by Sridhar, keeping every player’s individual traits and positioning on the field into consideration, the skipper has had some valuable time to think about the bigger issues around the matches, like uncanny strategies for instance.
Sridhar explained how, over the years, fielding has evolved into the most needed trait in cricket. “A few years back fielding was not treated as a primary. But the players now know that they can be a good batsman or bowler, but if they don’t back it up with good fielding they will struggle to make it to the playing 11,” he told bcci.tv.
The electric fielding has been on display by the Indians, especially in Melbourne where bowlers Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami got two big South African players run out. At the WACA too they were totally in the game when Bangar and Sridhar started the next session tailor-made as a fielding contest between two teams — known agilists on one side and the slightly weaker ones on the other.
The throws by the two coaches were diagonal and the players from each team had to dive, catch and take a shy at the plastic stumps all in one go. Of course, the Kohli-Raina group won, but the lesser one led by Jadeja and having most of the bowlers was not too far behind.
“The best part of our team is that the fast bowlers are athletic and good fielders. Don’t be surprised if you see an Umesh Yadav being posted at point. They have good throwing arms and their speed to the ball is excellent. This makes it easier for Dhoni when it comes to field placements and you don’t feel the need to hide them,” Sridhar said.
Sridhar and the support staff have been involved in preparing individual capsules for players, after studying their capacities, limitations and field postings, not to mention maintaining a detailed log of how many throws, miss-fields or ball covering the players have done in a particular match.
While the layman might just talk of batting partnerships, few know about the intense drill that goes into fielding partnerships. Indian coaches have talked at length about these issues and now a Kohli or a Raina are much more aware that they need to cover up for their fellow bowler who may have just bowled an over and would not be as sharp.
However, as Sridhar says, “the best thing about our fast bowlers is despite bowling all out in the nets, they never miss out on a fielding session. Even if is a 12-minute individual work out, they do it. They have worked their skins off to become good fielders,” something that the amazing throw by Mohit Sharma that got De Villiers at MCG, showed full on.
Balance, vision, commitment, the will to dive and the trust of players is crucial for putting together a world class fielding unit, a unit which Team India has developed into. After big shots, it is powerful fielding that the crown roars for. And, there has been a lot of that roaring around Indian players as they cordoned off the runs for Pakistan and South Africa in this World Cup thus far.
“Imagine a Jadeja at point, Ajinkya Rahane at covers, Raina at slips or extra cover, Virat Kohli at mid-off and imagine the pressure on a batsman to take a single,” Sridhar said with pride. Really, imagine! And throw in an Umesh Yadav directly hitting the stumps all the way from the ropes!