Togetherness to be the `mantra' at conditioning camp

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, MAY. 12. Fitness, fielding and strategies will have new benchmarks. However the operative word will be `togetherness' when the six-day conditioning camp for the Indian probables commences at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday. And reiterating this motive is the itinerary's emphasis on terms like `breakfast together' and `barbecue at the lawns'.

The probables for the Zimbabwe tour will train hard and the icing would be hours spent together on and off the field. It is 'Team India' at work while coach John Wright and physio Andrew Leipus keep a close watch.

``If every player thinks `I will win this match for India', it is the team which benefits,'' Wright had said a few months back while addressing an All India coaches seminar at Bangalore. The conditioning camp will aid Wright's focus on merging individual goals with team goals.

The probables were slated to arrive by Saturday evening and they would train here until the concluding session on May 18. The BCCI secretary J.Y. Lele and the National selectors are expected to arrive on May 16 and the team for the Zimbabwe tour will be announced on May 17.

The camp will have two sessions daily and on Sunday, a fitness check will augment the data sheets of Messrs Wright and Leipus. ``The check-up will help us find their (players) current fitness levels. They have had a break and we need to evaluate their off- season follow-up routine,'' Leipus said.

Bangalore last hosted a conditioning camp prior to the 1996 World Cup. Since then, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium has witnessed prolific changes.

The most notable being the state of the art gymnasium and indoor nets which lend glitter to the National Cricket Academy (NCA), housed in the Stadium complex.

``The NCA facilities will be used by the Indian probables. The conditioning camp itinerary is meticulous and has been done in a professional way,'' Brijesh Patel, NCA director and KSCA secretary, told The Hindu.

The camp will have a 7 a.m. start and stoking the probables'ego is a dismal record abroad. Hopefully the Test series victory against the Aussies at home will resonate with better performances overseas.

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