Team India take long look at short ball

BANGALORE: Indian team coach Gary Kirsten had promised that the intensity in training would be high in the short preparatory camp ahead of the
Team India
tri series in Sri Lanka.

True to his word, Day Two of the four-day camp was intense, with Friday morning devoted to fitness and fielding drills, which at times were neatly combined to keep away boredom, while the afternoon saw the batsmen and bowlers face off at the nets. The nets were certainly interesting, more so with extra attention being given to playing the short ball.

After the fitness assessments were done with on Day One, Kirsten, asked specifically if the short ball would figure prominently during training had said: "That might be one of it, but there might be a whole lot others. Within what we do in this team, in terms of our game plans, our training, our structures, we try and cover every base that we need to cover to make sure we give ourselves best chance of success."

Yes, a lot of bases were covered in terms of fielding, with the short pick up and throw, slip catching, et all figuring but when it came down to the net session at the National Cricket Academy, it was clear that it was the short ball that was being given a lot of thought.

The short ball session for each batsman was seemingly split into two parts. In the beginning, the batsman had to duck and weave his way out as either the bowling machine or the tennis racquet and ball were put to use to send down fast serves that grew big on the batsmen. After that, it was about hitting the short ball, pulling or hooking whenever the line was middle and leg, while still leaving it when the line was on or outside off stump. The training was for 50-over ODIs, where the dot ball is not always frowned upon, so it did make sense to practice both the leave and the shots.

Skipper MS Dhoni was happiest when the time came to smash the ball. He had not been found wanting when he had to leave the ball, his quick reflexes, more than any real technique, coming to the fore.

Dhoni had also looked to be in good touch when just prior to coming into the short ball net he had faced up to RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan in the regular net. There too he wasn't struggling to come to terms with the ball dug in, pulling and cutting the quickish RP with some ferocity (Ishant Sharma was the quickest but he didn't bowl to Dhoni).

The most impressive batting on the day came from comeback man Rahul Dravid. He seemed to be in prime form and though it was a given that he would excel at the ‘short ball net', the number of times the ball found the middle of his blade when he was up against the bowlers, made for pleasant watching.

The same was not the case with Sachin Tendulkar, who for some time at least, struggled. May 21, 2009 was when Tendulkar played his last game (for Mumbai Indians) and since then he's been enjoying the rare break and it showed. Harbhajan was the bowler he struggled most against, the offie teasing him with flight and winning more battles than he lost.

Tendulkar, however, is not the sort who believes too much in batting at the nets. However, if there was reason to worry as far as the batsmen were concerned, it had to with the struggles of Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan when it came to tackling bouncers. Both showed a tendency to take their eyes off the ball most times and thus found it tough to cope.

Kirsten spent a lot of time with both, patiently explaining the best way to deal with the stuff that no batsman likes but has to endure anyway as a professional hazard. Of course, it is important to remember that the nets always provide some sort of a claustrophobic feeling and is never a true or full indicator of ability