By IANS
Kolkata : At the end of its two-day conditioning camp here Saturday, Team India’s morale is high to meet the challenge from its arch-rivals Pakistan in the One-Day International series beginning in Guwahati Monday.
“The Indian team’s morale is on a high after the victories against the Aussies, in the last one-dayer and in the Twenty20 World Championship and the team is in a positive frame of mind before the India-Pakistan series,” team manager Lalchand Rajput told the media after a three-hour practice session at the Eden Gardens.
“Matches between the two sides are always very tight and close. All the matches are crunch games and it’s a crucial series for both sides. Whoever keeps the nerve on the given day will win,” he said.
Regarding inclusion of veterans in the team, Rajput said, “Both Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sourav (Ganguly) have loads of experience behind them and definitely their presence will help the Indian team immensely.”
He said Team India had a game plan and the team management would fine-tune it at Guwahati before the first match begins.
Asked whether the absence of former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Huq and speedster Mohammed Asif will help India, Rajput said, “Don’t think the Pakistan team is weak since Inzamam and Asif are not there. What counts in a one-dayer is which team plays better on a particular day. No player is indispensable for any team.
“If Asif has not come, then Shoaib Akhtar is in the team this time,” the Indian manager added.
Asked to comment on the aggressive attitude of some Indian players, Rajput said, “Aggression has to be there. But there has to be a thin line between aggression and over-aggression.”
While admitting there was no questioning Virender Sehwag’s class as a cricketer, Rajput said his position in the side was not clear yet.
“Viru (Virender Sehwag) is undoubtedly a great player. He is an asset to the team. But we have not given a thought about his position in the side,” he said.
Medium pacer R.P. Singh said, “We have played a lot of cricket during the last four months. I don’t know what would be Pakistan’s game plan, but we are prepared well.”
Singh said he would be only too happy to repeat his performance in Pakistan last year. “I didn’t try anything fancy there. Every simple thing I tried there luckily worked for me. I would only be too happy to repeat my performance.”
Making his debut against Pakistan in Faisalabad last year, Singh won the Man of the Match award. Thereafter he slowly faded away from the side, before coming back strongly this year.
Speaking about the Pakistan side, he said, “They have got a world-class line up, but even among them if you want me to pick somebody, I will mention Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan. They are very consistent.”
Praising Pakistan batsmen, Singh said, “There is no soft target, all are world-class players. But we have also made some plan which we will sit together and discuss before the series starts.”
All the members of the Indian team attended the practise session. While Yuvraj Singh joined the team last night, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir arrived here this morning.
With sun shining bright and the outfield at Eden Gardens drying up fully, the team had full-fledged batting, bowling and fielding practice for about three hours.
Sachin and Sourav batted first followed by Yuvraj, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and others.