India begin practice ahead of tour opener

Mahendra Singh Dhoni warms up for a light net session © AFP

Having got their body clocks into some sort of rhythm, and having enjoyed a pleasant evening at the High Commission, the Indians finally began their first full training session of the tour in a pastoral setting on the outskirts of Kingston. A light open net session was the main highlight of a largely muted stint, with the pitch going from bouncy to dopey within two hours.

Chedwin Park, home ground of the Catherine Cricket Club, is located 30 kilometres from the city. It is home to Jermaine Lawson, the West Indian fast bowler, and currently boasts six players in the Jamaica team. Part of the club was destroyed by the hurricanes in 2004, but recently required de-sanitisation of another kind. The International Cricket Council decreed that none of the grounds should be used for practice, keeping in mind the World Cup in 2007, and the authorities were required to specially de-sanitise a couple to enable India and West Indies to gear up for the series. When civil engineering terms are generously floated in cricketing discussions, you know something is cooking.

The small size of the ground and the fact that it was a Sunday meant that the Indians had to pretty much fend for themselves. They used their own practice balls and didn't get too much help from net bowlers (except near the end when two locals caused the batsmen some minor problems). Greg Chappell spent a considerable portion of the time retrieving balls that the batsmen were bludgeoning while Greg King tossed up a few deliveries for the batsmen to rehearse coming down the track.

In a corner of the field, on a concrete practice pitch, Ian Frazer, the biomechanics expert, used differently shaped balls - square, hexagonal etc - and tested the batsmen with some rapid chucking. It's a routine that helps batsmen watch the ball closely, from when it is delivered to when it reaches them, and Robin Uthappa and Mohammad Kaif were occasionally confounded by the bounce.

The Indians are set to practice here again tomorrow before flying to Montego Bay for the game against the Jamaican side. No practice pitches at Sabina Park, which is under construction, means that they will go into the first one-dayer without any idea about the pitch, outfield and conditions. But nobody's complaining, publicly at least. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, sporting a new shorter haircut, felt they had come to expect such circumstances, and preferred to use it as a challenge instead. "Travelling to different grounds means we spend more time with each other. It builds team spirit. We need to look at it as an advantage." Away in Trinidad, West Indies had just completed their 5-0 blanking of Zimbabwe and chants of "We will murder you, maan" began to fill the air.