Karnataka's field day thanks to hard training

One month ago a group of men went on a six-hour trekking on a treacherous route in the Bandipur forest. They weren't your new-age ennui-laden young executives but members of the Karnataka team. "It felt like a picnic, we didn't feel any strain despite a hard five-day training stint before that," Thilak Naidu had said then.

That training showed today, with an intensity to Karnataka's performance on the field that was reflected in the soreness of Naidu's gloved hands at stumps. Bharat Chipli, standing at second slip, dived full length to take a low catch to his right to dismiss Shafiq Khan, Haryana's highest scorer in the last match. There were several direct hits and a few half-chances created out of nothing. A tickle to the right of short-leg was not only stopped with a full-length dive but Chipli's keen anticipation prompted him to spring up on his toes, swivel and throw. It narrowly missed the sticks but the statement was clear.

To prepare for this tournament, coach Venkatesh Prasad put the group in isolation for 10 days at the sprawling Infosys campus in Mysore. No distractions of a big city, no external contact, not even too many net sessions; instead, the focus was on team building, fitness and endurance. Players ran in the Chamundi Hills for two days. "We wanted to get make them bond together, trust each other as good team-mates should and build discipline and character," Prasad told Cricinfo at the end of the second day's play.

Actually, Prasad had begun the process three months before the first Ranji match. "It took three months for me to change their mindset, make them understand the importance of fielding. The talent was always there but not the willingness. They caught up quickly though. As far as I am concerned fielding is a very important aspect. We needed to make the fielding drills interesting and that's what I brought in."

Having worked with John Wright, and interacted with several other coaches in India and abroad [during his coaching courses] Prasad brought with him a variety of approaches to fielding. "I made the fielding sessions short, say one hour, but it would be very intensive. Day in and day out. We identified specialist fielders for each vital position and the results are there to see."

The day was also characterized by constant chat out in the middle. "We don't believe in sledging but we would definitely like to play hard and aggressive cricket", Prasad said. "We don't want to give up at any point of time. Even in this game we were 182 for 6 but Thilak Naidu and Sunil Joshi put on 123 runs to lift us out of the hole. The boys have started trusting each other, working together and that's why you could see that they play hard cricket."

But it was not all praise from the coach. Karnataka had Haryana on the ropes at 124 for 6 but an unbeaten 42-run partnership between Mahesh Rawat and Sachin Rana has raised the Haryana hopes of avoiding the follow-on. "I feel we could have done much better, we should have finished the job today." Under such guidance, Karnataka can only improve. And if they do, all that early-season hard work would have been more than just a picnic.