Sports: Cricket; Ground Rules

As the Indian teams set off for the Sahara Cup and the Commonwealth Games, an exciting and innovative two-week camp tones them up for the battles ahead.

The portents weren't good. Bob Simpson, the world-class coach, the first Westerner allowed permission to lecture in an Indian dressing room, was telling our team of Occidental magicians to read. Read! This was what he was being paid -- 125 (Rs 8,750) a day for, this was the "input" we had been anticipating for 12 months. Look Aussie, Indian cricketers just about read their endorsement contracts, maybe you should take the next plane home.

All over the world, in every sport, sportspeople spend their lives in search of an edge, that tiny slice of advantage which allows them to overreach their peers. Martina Navratilova lifted weights, Ivan Lendl tried a computerised diet, Milkha Singh ran an extra hour in darkness till he vomited with exhaustion, V. Anand scrolled through an extra God-knows-how-many-thousand games to expand his repertoire. Maybe this Indian cricket team's time had come to try something different. Like reading.

So Simpson handed out his papers, one marked "National Practice Program", another called "Skill Training", a third titled "What Can You Do to Improve Your Performance". These had tips on batting, advice on mental toughness, suggestions for fielding. But on one page lay the most provoking thought, a quote by Vince Lombardi, the rawhide-tough and highly successful American football coach. It read: "Truly, I have never known a really successful man who deep in his heart did not understand the grind, the discipline, that it takes to win." Maybe this would be Simpson's contribution.

In a year's time, under coach Anshuman Gaekwad's stewardship, a young team has suddenly matured. In 1997, winning just 10 of 39 one-day internationals, the team was ranked ninth in the world with a success rate of 33.33 per cent; this year they have already won 16 of 25 matches, have a success rate of 68 per cent and are ranked third in the world. They have genius (Tendulkar), grace (Azharuddin), pace (Srinath), wizardry (Kumble) ... But for six and a half hours a day for two weeks Simpson and Gaekwad were going to try and find them that edge. Nine months hence, they knew, was the World Cup.

Four laps around the ground (three if the mood wasn't good), a few high catches and then basic nets were once the routine. Not anymore. This time intensity, focus and quality work were the buzzwords. "Even at this level one sometimes tends to overlook the basics. Consequently, technical mistakes creep in but it is never too late to apply the correctives," says Azharuddin. "It has been great, the team is bound to benefit from it," says Tendulkar, who in keeping with the spirit bats a second time at the nets after all the players have had their go.

"Practice must be fun," writes Simpson in his papers. "Only perfect practice makes perfect." So at the camp simple rules were put in place. At nets, the players had to wear exactly the same gear they would in a match: helmet, gloves, boots. Why? "Because even a slight variation in footwear could affect their footwork," says Gaekwad.

Then batsmen are told to sit in a chair behind the nets and visualise what exactly they are going to do. When they get up they must be ready, for practice is now competitive, match conditions are being simulated. The nets are not closed but open on the sides, with fielders in position and bowlers are asked to get batsmen out. The batsman, meanwhile, must note the fielding positions, the gaps and search for singles. For every LBW appeal upheld or boundary hit, Simpson is there awarding points. This is not a playground for sissies. When an injured Navjot Sidhu (blisters on his feet) is sitting out, Simpson grabs him saying "c'mon pussycat" and makes him give the fielders catching practice. Not a minute here is allowed to be wasted, nobody permitted to go through the motions, for every move is recorded on video and then analysed by the team management. Says Saurav Ganguly one evening, his body recovering from a new punishment, "This is doing us a world of good."

If India is all grown up as a cricket team, in fielding and running between wickets they are still adolescents. So again the simulation begins, with players timed across 22 yards. "Move it, stretch, ground it," yells Simpson. Some players overrun, Azhar still forgets to ground his bat, but they're learning, how to find gaps and accelerate like an Alfa Romeo. If you hesitate, you're dead. Statistics comparing India, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa this year show that India scores more runs than any of them through boundaries and the least through singles; they also show that India scores the most runs in the first 10 overs, but the least in the last 10 overs. This training has to help and does. By the end of one session a player's timing over a short running distance has decreased from 2.7 seconds to 2.2 seconds. In fielding it is similarly bizarre. Old lessons -- "release the ball quickly and never throw it to the wicketkeeper on the bounce" -- are bolstered by new ones like learning to throw with either arm.

The bowlers, meanwhile, are having their own tutorials. Plan, work out batsmen, retain control, are the coaches' refrain. In Simpson's notes lie a wonderful example of this. To learn control, he writes, "Richie Benaud would try to bowl maiden overs to batsmen at the nets. If a batsman scored a run off him, he would go back and start again." But it is Kumble who seems to be Simpson's pet project. Says the Aussie: "When Shane Warne came along, Anil tried to spin the ball like him. So he changed his action and lost his effectiveness. Now we've got him to return to his old action."

Every little detail is being looked at through a magnifying glass. If Kumble and Simpson are working on developing a googly and a drifter in one corner, Gaekwad has his hands full too. First he's getting young Harbhajan to pitch outside the off stump (rather than on off or middle) to make the batsman play against the spin; then he's ironing out the problems Debashish Mohanty is having with his final stride, which makes his shoulders drop forcing him to pitch short. These are examinations of technique that Independent India hasn't yet seen.

To say that the Indian team would have become comatose without Simpson is to embrace exaggeration. Gaekwad had sharpened their aggressiveness. Trainer Andrew Kokinos has taught them about their bodies (believe this, Ganguly has set up his own personal gym at home). Simpson's contribution is introducing a fresh mindset, adding a Westerner's view to a professional game. Now he will join the team in New Zealand in January, attend the camp prior to next year's World Cup and, of course, be there in England for the big event itself. And hey, he'll have some more reading matter with him.

Maybe he should write a special paper for the bumbling Indian board. When they split the team into two for the Sahara Cup and the Commonwealth Games, the euphoria in the camp swiftly evaporated. As one senior player summed it up: "If the main team was retained as one unit then at least we could have put all this great stuff we've learnt into practice for the first time." Now they can't.

"It'll be India's best"
Bob Simpson took time off from practice to talk to Special Correspondent Javed M Ansari

How confident are you of turning things around for India?
If I wasn't confident of turning it around I wouldn't be here. But you can't expect miracles overnight. I have some thoughts and ideas which the team has not been exposed to before.

What are these new ideas?
What I have introduced is 10 or more different fielding routines. I have been emphasising the need for mental urgency and aggressiveness.

Like what?
We stressed on rhythm of movement and technical refinement. The idea is that if the basics are right then you are less inclined to make mistakes.

In which areas do they lack?
They are not the best fielders or throwers of the ball. They could get a lot more runs if they get a hang of what we have tried to teach them about running between wickets.

Indian teams are known to choke and lack mental toughness?
I don't agree with that. We are trying to get them to learn to relax a bit more. I have spoken to them about it. Never be satisfied with 50 per cent, give it 105 per cent. Toughness means getting through the bad times and moving on to the good times.

Is there anything specific that you have taught them in this regard?
They must reduce peak concentration to minimum time. The batsmen should concentrate only when the bowler is about to deliver the ball and not when he begins walking back to his mark. Thus it enables him to remain mentally fresh longer. I call it the "concentrate-now" method.

Do you plan to monitor the team's progress even when you are not here?
I will leave behind a lot of thoughts and papers for the players to ponder and work on. Anshu and I have a great rapport. We will be in touch, I'll be watching them on TV intently. We have arranged for videos to be sent to me. I'll be on the fax and phone frequently.

How do you rate India's chances for the World Cup?
These are early days yet. But I can tell you, by the time we leave for the Cup this will be the best prepared team from India.