It’s time for Duncan Fletcher to deliver

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The short tour of Sri Lanka might not hold much significance as India is to engage primarily in the traditional format this season. However for coach Duncan Fletcher the challenge will commence from the moment the team lands in the Colombo airport.

The veteran strategist has failed to walk the talk from the time he took over the World No.1 Test team and World Champions in the 50-over variant.

The BCCI decided not have an enquiry into the debacle in England and Australia but it is reliably learnt that the board is not going to let it go easy.

Fletcher’s breakfast meeting with BCCI president N. Srinivasan in his residence was termed 'Normal and regular' but there could be more than what meets the eye.

“I have had a couple of meetings with the president. I had a meeting with him when I was here for the IPL final. And I had another meeting with him this morning. From my point of view, it went very well. We discussed the kind of issues that I don’t think we can debate in this forum. We had had a good chat for about an hour and a half. From my point of view, we have taken a stock of the present view. We just have to wait and see what happens in future,” said Fletcher.

In fighting amongst team members and poor results are certainly not helping Fletcher’s cause. No Indian coach in the past has managed to hold on to his job after such horrific failures.

“It is time his expertise translates in to wins for the country, else it would be difficult to persist with him,” said a senior BCCI official. Fletcher who managed the England side for nearly a decade did not see his understanding of the Indian team culture having a part to play with the poor results.

“Think I have jelled well with the side and at the end of the day it is for the players to tell whether my contribution has been good or not. Last season was difficult and it is not easy to point out one specific area where the team went wrong. I have discussed things in detail with the captain. I have been giving my inputs and the players have received it well and hopefully it is helping them do better,” added Fletcher.

India has slipped from one to five in the Test charts while the returns in limited overs have not been better either. Fletcher will be desperate for success in Sri Lanka, a point from where the team has to show tremendous improvement in order to justify their rock star billing.

That the entire season (barring the T20 World Cup) is at home would provide the Zimbabwean some solace.

We’ll adapt well: Dhoni

The Indian team’s tumble after being crowned World Champions has been rather steep. Not making the final of the tri-series in Australia and the Asia Cup in Bangladesh held the mirror as the team took backward steps.

Sri Lanka will be tough nuts to crack in their own den especially after their resounding success against Pakistan, a team that has done better than most others in Sri Lanka. Skipper MS Dhoni appeared confident ahead of a fairly long season where he stressed the importance of a good start.

Senior members of the side have been critical of Dhoni’s methods but he was not ready to confront, instead he stressed on the role a captain needs to play in shaping the fortunes of a side.

India are currently ranked No.4 in the ODI table and a setback in Sri Lanka could further push the team down a country where India has enjoyed reasonable success in ODIs in the recent past.

Excerpts from Dhoni’s interaction at the conclusion of the preparatory camp.

On his role as captain: You put the best captain in the world in charge of Alaska and I am sure he will not be able to achieve much. A captain needs to channelise the resources that are available and guide the team well. Every captain needs a good bunch of players to work with.

On the long break the team enjoyed: I started playing for the country in December 2004 and this is the first time we have enjoyed a break this long.

We did have a break after the 2007 50-over World Cup but we don’t have fond memories of that break as we were eliminated early. It’s not always possible to have long breaks regularly. Perhaps this would be the longest break for us in the next five years. In a way it has helped as the players are looking fresh.

On Sri Lanka as tough competitors at home: They have done well against Pakistan and are always a competitive side. At the same time we will not find it difficult to acclimatise as we have been touring regularly in the last four-five years. It will be new venues for us this time but things should not be very different from what we have encountered before.

On revival of cricket ties with Pakistan: It is good. As professional cricketers we are taught to treat all opposition equally. Pakistan as always will be a tough opponent.

Once we get on the field there is no place for emotions or sentiments and our job is to do the country proud irrespective of whom we are playing against.

Team India fly out on Wednesday

The two-day preparatory camp for the tour of Sri Lanka concluded at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday. Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma who suffered a blow on his head on Monday showed no discomfort while bowling.

The entire squad of 15 went through the grind under the watchful eyes of coach Duncan Fletcher, Trevor Penny (fielding) and Joe Dawes (bowling).

Among the medium pacers, Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav bowled a long spell while veteran Zaheer Khan who looked in slight discomfort during the fielding session decided to take it easy after having worked hard on the first day of the camp.

The fielding session was handled by penny and former TN coach TS Mohan where Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli looked exceptional. Rustiness was apparent in some of the others.

Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary did a set of short sprints with their pads on, an exercise the other top order batsmen went through a day earlier.

The team sported the flashy new yellow jersey specifically designed for practice.

The camp concluded with the tail end batsmen having a knock but not before MS Dhoni was troubled by a net bowler who also had the honour of knocking the skipper’s citadel. The team will fly out at 11am on Wednesday.