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Fully prepared, says Badrinath

Principal Correspondent

Bangalore: S. Badrinath, the captain of the Indian Emerging Players’ team, said that the squad was fully prepared for the forthcoming tour of Australia. “We are looking at winning the tournament. Ours is a talented side, we have got the best players from their respective States. Of course, some of them are going to Australia for the first time and it will be a huge experience for them. We are not putting any undue pressure on ourselves,” Badrinath said, after joining the preparatory camp at the National Cricket Academy here on Monday.

Badrinath, who had missed out on the first two days, said that a five-day camp in the lead-up to the Emerging Players’ tournament in Brisbane, was adequate.

“I think five days is a reasonable amount of time. I won’t say that it’s the best way to go about it but the fact is even if we spend 15 days or even a month here, it still won’t matter as it is all about adapting to the conditions there in Australia, which are vastly different.

“Luckily, we have two Twenty20 games which are not part of the original tournament and we are looking at these two games to get a grasp of the conditions,” Badrinath said.

The captain said that a tour to Australia was a huge experience for all cricketers.

“Any tour of Australia is big in terms of the experience you gain. You can only be a better cricketer after that. The Emerging Players’ tournament is a good opportunity for us as at the ‘A’ team level as you don’t often get a quadrangular tournament of this magnitude. Last year, we finished third after starting well. There was a bit of rain, the weather was cold and the toss became vital. There was a match in which we nearly bowled the full quota but when we chased it became a 20-over chase,” Badrinath said.

On his personal goals, Badrinath said: “I just want to keep my form, keep scoring runs.”

Meanwhile the camp’s third-day wound up with an extended fielding session where the accent was on long throws to the wicket-keeper.

“In Australia, you have long outfields and it does get windy at times and hence we were fine-tuning our throws from the deep,” explained Badrinath.

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