The Indians are finding their feet: Wright

By G. Viswanath

JOHANNESBURG, SEPT. 29. It was during the chilly winter in north India last year that New Zealander John Wright, employed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the national's team first foreign and professional coach, took charge of the team. There were quite a handful who had applied for the job, but the BCCI short-listed three-Wright and Australians Geoff Marsh and Greg Chappell, who had thrown his hat in the ring in the eleventh hour.

Marsh had a look at India's programme until September 2002 and cried off. The BCCI was left with two, Wright and Greg Chappell. It finally decided to have Wright on its pay roll. Wright had been sounded about the opening by India's senior players who were playing as professionals in England.

Not even 12 months have gone by after Wright decided to lend his professional-thinking mind and hand to a bunch of Indian youngsters led by a very sensitive Sourav Ganguly. In this time his record has been impressive, but not spectacular. The high point of course was the home series win against Steve Waugh's Australia.

The defeat against Sri Lanka made Wright say that ``The Indians did not deserve to win because they did not play the game fundamentally well against the Sri Lankans''. Now on his third, and by his own acknowledgement the toughest tour in the year, Wright hopes to change the fortunes of the team that failed to outsmart the lean and mean South Africans here in 1992 and 1996- 97.

He has time and again asked the Indians to be ``proud of playing for the country'' and put the passion aspect in them. He appears to have succeeded to an extent as was seen against the Aussies. It appears the ultimate test is upon him on this tour to South Africa which is all geared up to face the Australians in November - December. Under the supervision of Wright and physio Leipus, the Indians who came here last Monday have trained and practiced for over 25 hours in the last five days.

On Sunday, the team would have earned a holiday and will visit the Ellis Park to see a provincial rugby bout between the Lions and Pumas. At the SuperSport Park, Centurion, Wright said, ``All the labour over the week has been worthwhile''.

Excerpts from the interview:

* On the Indian team's preparations so far in South Africa.

It's been very worthwhile, The weather and facilities have been excellent. We have been able to train at two of the Test venues.... At The Wanderers and here at The Centurion. The boys have had a look at the places they are going to play. Andrew (Leipus) has been working with me for two sessions every day, except for yesterday. We have also had fitness work-outs every day. That's given the boys a chance to acclimatise themselves to the altitude well.

One of the things we have really tried to concentrate on is to call correctly, back up and run between the wickets properly. It sounds a simple thing, but we need to get them right. We need to progress in that area in one-day cricket. And also to improve our ability on ground fielding. Neither I nor the players are fully satisfied. We have to get these things right because it has cost us games. We have had needless run-outs and we have not been able to play pressure situations. We are going to be up against a side that will be very disciplined in bowling. So we have got to raise our game there. Again, it all sounds simple, but a lot of things about the game are just performing the simple things under pressure.

* About the advantages of playing the Test series after the one- day series.

It will be beneficial. The boys, the batsmen in particular, will get opportunities to play on these wickets (at The Centurion) that are also a little bit different from the one at `The Wanderers' nets. We are going to play a Test match here (The Centurion) and also a one-day match. The difference between Johannesburg and here is in the pace of the wickets. The wickets at `The Wanderers' did not have pace or bounce. Here the wickets are much quicker. Well, I could see the batsmen readjusting to the pitches here. It will take a little bit of time. So it's good to be here first and play the one-dayers first.

* Would you like to name the batsmen who have already adjusted to the new conditions?

Well, every body has to be mentally prepared. Obviously some of the boys are very experienced. They have been here before. I don't know how much Jacob Martin has played abroad. But some of the youngsters like Yuveraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Shiv Sundar Das have played. Deepdas Gupta likes the ball coming on and that seems to be good. I would like to say that we are ready to play cricket now after five or six days of practice.

* The areas of batting the adjustments have to be made by the batsmen.

Well, the fundamentals don't change too much. It all depends on the type of wickets we are going to get here, but we are not going to get too many flat wickets here. The big thing is to get used to the conditions quickly. Scores between 230 to 250 will be very competitive here, particularly at some grounds. The dew will be a factor. We have done a little bit of research in those areas. So all things considered, it's been a worthwhile week. Yes, they (Indians) are finding their feet.

* About the adjustments required to be made by Shiv Sundar Das.

He had a good tour of Zimbabwe and another solid tour of Sri Lanka. He is progressing well. I am pleased, personally, that the selectors decided to pick him for the one-day series. This will be a help to him. He deserves that opportunity because over here you need specialist batsmen. You have to go out there and play properly in these conditions. Martin looks good. They have trained well.

* You must be pleased that Ajit Agarkar is here.

He looks the old Ajit to me. That's the impression I get after seeing him bat at the nets. The last time I saw him bat like this was against Zimbabwe at home before Christmas. He appears to have struck form in Kenya (playing for Mumbai). That reflects a lot about his confidence. We know what he is capable of and he's probably got a point to prove on this trip.

* Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble too are back in the side.

That's a good thing to happen. Because that (their absence) probably cost us the two one-day finals (in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka) I have been associated with. The onus is on us to bowl accurately in the first 15 and the last ten overs and also bowl to a plan and in a disciplined manner. There is an opportunity to win a one-day final here. That's what we are looking to here.

I had a chat with Anil this morning and he said every thing was fine. He is throwing as well. And Sachin is not even being mentioned (as coming back from a toe injury) to be honest; he has been part of everything really, except for slow jogging.

* On the possibility of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opening the innings against South Africa on October 5.

Definitely, I will start that way. And I don't expect it to change. I hope that both get lots of runs. That's the best way to look at it.

* About everybody getting a chance to play before the tri-series opener against South Africa.

We will probably field our first four-Das, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly-in both the warm-up matches and each of the other four- Yuveraj, Sehwag, Martin and Sodhi-will get a game each. Probably Kumble will play the first match, and Harbhajan the second. We will play four specialist batsmen and bowlers each and the wicketkeeper. The other two positions will be taken by two from the other four-Yuveraj, Sehwag, Martin and Sodhi. But we have not decided who (Kumble or Harbhajan) will play the first and second.

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