— Photo: PTI

TAKING STOCK: The Indian captain Rahul Dravid, manager Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad (right), along with officials, overseeing preparations at the Eden Gardens, ahead of the conditioning camp beginning on Wednesday.

KOLKATA: The five-day conditioning camp of the Indian team for the tour of Bangladesh will start here on Wednesday.

Save Dinesh Karthik, all the selected players are expected to be in the city before the start of the camp.

The Tamil Nadu stumper, who is getting married in Mumbai on Wednesday, will join the camp on the final day, May 6.

Skipper Rahul Dravid along with manager Ravi Shastri, coaches Robin Singh and B.K. Venkatesh Prasad, administrative manager Surendra Bhave, and other members of support staff arrived here on Monday and went around the Eden Gardens on Tuesday morning to see the facilities available.

Two sessions daily

Speaking to the media after inspecting the facilities, Bhave said the camp would be held in two sessions.

The morning session would be devoted for general fitness drills and fielding practice while the afternoon session would be for nets.

Even the Pankaj Gupta Indoor Centre has been readied in case the rain came down.

According to the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Prasun Mukherjee, security had been tightened in and around the venue and no spectator would be allowed near the Club House. They could, however, enter the galleries from the northern end.

Dealing with media

It was also learnt that the players would be asked to attend a session on dealing with media to be conducted by an editor of a leading English news channel.

A three-page diet chart has been prepared in consultation with the team's trainer and physio.

Think-tank meets

The team's think-tank met on Monday night for a two-hour session where Shastri asked the players to enjoy the game and stressed the importance of positive attitude.

The early ouster of the Indian team from the ICC World Cup and its loss to Bangladesh would probably make this tour an important one from India's point of view.

Bangladesh's win over South Africa in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup made everybody sit up and take notice of the country where the passion for the game runs as deep as in India, if not more.

This is reason enough for India to take the upcoming tour rather seriously. It is also pertinent to mention that when India toured Bangladesh last time, it had lost an ODI.

Hard decisions

The World Cup debacle compelled the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take some hard decisions and the National selectors responded by `resting' two senior players, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, and dropped Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.

The selectors have recalled opener Gautam Gambhir, medium pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, off-spinner Ramesh Powar and leg-break bowler Piyush Chawla. Bengal's Manoj Tiwary is the only new face in the squad.

With an experienced Dravid at the helm, the Board has every reason to believe this team will not only deliver but also avenge earlier defeats.

The team will leave for Bangladesh on May 7 and play three ODIs and two Tests.

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