Ravi Shastri adds a different hue to team’s training style

Colombo: After taking charge of the team in his second stint, India coach Ravi Shastri has tweaked team’s preparation style and though it’s early days, an immediate impact can be noticed.

A key implementation on Shastri’s part is how the batsmen are now ever ready to bat in the middle. This has nothing to do with batting order, instead a new practice of warming up before going down to the middle.

It was evident in Galle itself when Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund — India’s opening pair for the first Test — reached the ground before the rest of the squad. The mandate for them was to get to the nets and start hitting balls just in case India bat first. As it turned out, Kohli did win the toss and the amply warmed-up Dhawan smashed 190 off 168 balls in the first innings. By the time the openers went in, Cheteshwar Pujara had completed this routine, while Virat Kohli was in the nets. It is a different approach to the previous regime, of course, and agreeably welcomed in the team as well.

The underlining aspect of this new thought process from coach Shastri is his belief that the team should exert their number one status on the field. India were confirmed as the world’s number one ranked Test side under Anil Kumble, romping to successive victories over the West Indies, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia.

Shastri has also brought forth a certain differentiation in the team’s thinking in the short span of time that he has spent with them thus far. In one of his first conversations with the team, the coach had underlined the ‘importance of enjoying the game before thinking of anything else’.

Apparently, he had asked the players to remember why they had started playing cricket and urged them to ‘exhibit this passion on the field’.

Given the short time frame of comparison, it might be harsh to highlight Kumble’s coaching approach as a bit too methodical, if not mechanical.