How much do you think India train and prepare?

[bharat297]

I would just like to know how much a team like India trains. To me , more than selection, or tactics, our training and preparation methods for major series and tournaments. Living in Australia, I see on TV, the amount of training and preparation the Australian team put in to matches. A perfect example of this is how Australia responded to the Ashes loss in 2005. Since then, every game, every training session, every ball they bowled, every run they scored seemed to be in preparation for the Ashes series in 2006. They beat England 5-0 in the Ashes series and the series was without doubt the most dominant performance by the Australian cricket team in a test series I have ever seen. They lost 6 games from 7 heading into the world cup 2007, but won all 11 games they played and lets be honest ... to say Australia won their 11 world cup games is an understatement. They are absolutely ruthless in their preparation. This is somewhere that India struggle. Not just India, but many teams, but I am an Indian fan so I am concerned about India here. I am not talking just about physical fitness and agility but all round training. Anyone have any idea how much India train? More than reviewing our selection, India need to really review their training and preparation. Its one thing to play to your strengths and away from your weaknesses, it is another to have an attitude of wanting to train your **** off to ensure you dont have weaknesses.

[head coach]

Good writeup Bharat. This is how Aussies score points when they play. Chappell was accused of giving too much importance on physical fitness by players while he coached. Indian players do have the skills to succeed in this game but they lack the fitness and endurance needed to deliver peak performance in full quota of a 50 over game. To consistently win you need talent plus power(toughness both physical and mental)

[Rahul Khan]

I would just like to know how much a team like India trains. To me ' date= more than selection, or tactics, our training and preparation methods for major series and tournaments.

I didn't get the point here^

They are absolutely ruthless in their preparation. This is somewhere that India struggle. Not just India' date=' but many teams, but I am an Indian fan so I am concerned about India here. [b']I am not talking just about physical fitness and agility but all round training. Anyone have any idea how much India train? More than reviewing our selection, India need to really review their training and preparation. Its one thing to play to your strengths and away from your weaknesses, it is another to have an attitude of wanting to train your **** off to ensure you dont have weaknesses.

Well said, agreed over the emphasis expressed about fitness and agility moreover all-round training. Selection also needs to refresh their modalities and come out with some bold decisions, so that players in comfort zone get alarmed and perform. I don't agree with you Bharat that there is no need of reviewing selection....it is very very important or else big names/stars take their places for granted. About training...somewhere I read about Greg Chapell's efforts, atleast he was striving to build a team that could chase even highly tickled scoreboards. More or less, he was performing well by making the criterion ' Perform and be in the team' again to say...there were many loop-holes then, too. Now, as you said we must look forward some modern means of training and preparations...for which we need a coach who is theoretically strong... ... did I mean boring in this reply?

[bharat297]

Yes. I didnt agree with some of Chappell's methods, mainly the way he criticised his players publicly which I feel never does any good for the team, but I do believe his emphasis on training is good. But I am not just talking about physical fitness. I just think back to Sachin's early days where in preparation for Shane Warne (who at the time was gaining a reputation as the best spinner in the world) and Sachin faced mainly leg spin at training for the weeks leading into the Australian series, and consequently dispatched Warne all over the park. Australia do this all the time. Why arent we doing this all the time.

[fineleg]

Bharat297, This is an excellent post. Not just physical training, but overall training for a series. Including if the best bowler in opposition team is a left arm fast bowler, special training for that. If the best bowler you are going to face is a leg spinner, special training for that. Understand the opposition strengths and keenly train for special areas. Ofcourse dont forget endurance and athletic training. But, to come back to your question: What training do our players do? For starters, during tour breaks Virender Sehwag eats Aloo Parantha made by Aarthi. Yuvraj Singh sure trains with Kim Sharma - good athleticism. Dinesh Karthik is newly married, so sorry not much time for training. The 3 M's (maharathis of dravid, ganguly, srt) - you even dare suggest these things to them? BCCI - they are busy training how to make the next million $ or billion $

[Rahul Khan]

Yes. I didnt agree with some of Chappell's methods' date=' mainly the way he criticised his players publicly which I feel never does any good for the team, but I do believe his emphasis on training is good. But I am not just talking about physical fitness. I just think back to Sachin's early days where in preparation for Shane Warne (who at the time was gaining a reputation as the best spinner in the world) and Sachin faced mainly leg spin at training for the weeks leading into the Australian series, and consequently dispatched Warne all over the park. Australia do this all the time. Why arent we doing this all the time.

Greg Chappel needed time and space ... he was unlucky due to few things: 1. getting into a hustle with Ganguly. 2. started experimentation just b4 world cup. 3. change in the selection committee. 4. not educating players and media about various kinda trainings. 5. over-indulging in the in field matters of the team, besides off-field matters. add some more...if I am missing here.

[bigdhoni7]

they spend all their time doing commercials so obviously their not committed to training and match practice... ^^^ if you believe that nonsense, than you are an idiot! :haha:

[kabira]

> Chappell was accused of giving too much importance on physical fitness by players while he coached. what a hogwash...John Wright was the one who gave importance to physical fitness and brought in physical trainer...and all senior inlcuding ganguly really thought that was good move..so if you say Chappell was accused of doing what Wright did, you must be kidding.

[head coach]

kabira, you must have missed it! Chappell was chastised for stressing too much on fitness and weight-training at the expense of developing match skills by several current and former players. By the by are you still in India or back in US?

[kabira]

>Chappell was chastised for stressing too much on fitness and weight-training at the expense of developing match skills by several current and former players. link please that he was criticized for fitness training..

[kabira]

I am in India for good

[yoda]

some of chappell's training methods appeared questionable cause they would be playing kho-kho to get fit while dropping a bunch of catches the previous series. so the question then was whether the team was spending enough time sharpening their basic cricketing skills like fielding and catching.

[Brainfade]

Chappell's problem was two-fold: (a) Lack of class - the finger incident and the cowardice to deny it (b) Lack of class - revealing confidential team information to certain media outlets.

[bharat297]

Training ruthlessly for matches is where confidence is stemmed from. The Australians were confident in their cricket even before they were world champions because they knew that they had done absolutely everything they could possibly do in preparation for each match. They walk in to each match knowing they had addressed and prepared for each area of the game. This gives them confidence which allows them to be aggressive in their mindset, and body language.

[yoda]

Training ruthlessly for matches is where confidence is stemmed from. The Australians were confident in their cricket even before they were world champions because they knew that they had done absolutely everything they could possibly do in preparation for each match. They walk in to each match knowing they had addressed and prepared for each area of the game. This gives them confidence which allows them to be aggressive in their mindset' date= and body language.

Go easy on our boyz. They like to Chill.

[jf1gp_1]

Chappell's problem was two-fold: (a) Lack of class - the finger incident and the cowardice to deny it (b) Lack of class - revealing confidential team information to certain media outlets.

this tactics has been used by sunny when he was the captain to get the best out of his players. plus of late not just Indian players but Indians in general have become to sensitive to written words.

[bharat297]

Bharat297, This is an excellent post. Not just physical training, but overall training for a series. Including if the best bowler in opposition team is a left arm fast bowler, special training for that. If the best bowler you are going to face is a leg spinner, special training for that. Understand the opposition strengths and keenly train for special areas. Ofcourse dont forget endurance and athletic training. But, to come back to your question: What training do our players do? For starters, during tour breaks Virender Sehwag eats Aloo Parantha made by Aarthi. Yuvraj Singh sure trains with Kim Sharma - good athleticism. Dinesh Karthik is newly married, so sorry not much time for training. The 3 M's (maharathis of dravid, ganguly, srt) - you even dare suggest these things to them? BCCI - they are busy training how to make the next million $ or billion $

I think its unfair to suggest that the big 3 dont train as hard as the others, because, in the case of Sachin, he is probably one of the hardest workers in the team. I mentioned the preparation for Warne. At one stage in his younger days he had played 60 days of consecutive cricket. More recently, after world cup 2007 he sought out the help of Bob Simpson, to assist him with his batting. You cant be consistently making runs for 20 years, and adapting your game, unless you are working hard. I am pretty sure Dravid works hard too, he seems that sort of person. Ganguly im not sure, I would like to think he does, but, I dont understand how after 11 years (with new technologies and bowling machines that can reach 150+ km/h) how someone can be exploited in the same weaknesses. But regardless, I wasnt asking about each individual players' training. I want to know roughly how much training India as a team do during the week. Im not just talking about athleticism, and physical fitness (which is important too) but all round cricket training. Whatever amount Australia is training and preparing, we should be doing more. Thats the only way we can get better than them.

[Predator_05]

How exactly does one train "ruthlessly" anyway ? Do you make angry faces when running laps or start grunting on every rep when you are lifting weights ?

[Lurker]

But regardless' date=' I wasnt asking about each individual players' training. I want to know roughly how much training India as a team do during the week. Im not just talking about athleticism, and physical fitness (which is important too) but all round cricket training. [/quote'] The easy answer is that we don't train, period. I am reminded of that anecdote involving John Wright when he became India's coach. On his first training session he was witness to Indian players turning up as and when required. If I am not mistaken the players were supposed to turn up early, go for some jog and stretches, then have a light breakfast and then practise batting and bowling. Instead what happened was noone showed at in the morning, everyone showed up at breakfast, had a good stuffing and then went on to practise. Needless to say soon enough a lot of players were feeling very uncomfortable. Yes you can pick a SRT practising against Shiva, or a Sunny practising in Kanga league on wet grounds to get used to pace but in bigger spectrum we don't practise. Our practise is limited to a few training sessions before the start of a series where from whatever I read the players go through the paces. I mean when was the last time you read Indian batsmen specifically preparing for Lee/Johnson's pace? You hear that all the time how aussies are preparing to counter Kumble. xxx

[bharat297]

How exactly does one train "ruthlessly" anyway ? Do you make angry faces when running laps or start grunting on every rep when you are lifting weights ?

Lol What I meant was that to train ruthlessly, is for instance ... say we need to prepare for mitchell johnson ... set the bowling machines to 150+ km/h and set it from the angle and to the areas Johnson bowls. Keep facing that over and over again, playing different shots, until you are so good that you know there is absolutely no way Johnson will trouble you at all the next time you play him. Be relentless. This is one example.