Fitness improvements please Kirsten

The recess is over. India's ODI team assembled in Bangalore today for a four-day conditioning camp, leading into the tri-series in Sri Lanka early next month, and then the Champions Trophy in South Africa following immediately.

As they sat for the team meeting in the morning, it was the first time that all the players had come together in close to seven weeks - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina had been away for longer. The first day of the camp involved the meeting and a fitness assessment at the National Cricket Academy gym. Gary Kirsten, the India coach, had given the team impromptu fitness tests two weeks ago, and he liked what he saw today.

"Based on what we saw two weeks ago, there have been significant improvements from every player, which means they are taking it seriously," Kirsten said. "That's all we wanted. The players have realised that this is a part of the game that they all want to improve on, and the players have taken on that responsibility."

The big question, though, is whether four days are enough for a team to get into the international mode and up their intensity for a packed season ahead. With the BCCI's Corporate Cup lined up, Kirsten had no choice, because he didn't want to eat into the break that the players had finally got, which he thought was essential.

"It was very important for us and the guys to have at least a six-week break," Kirsten said. "It's the longest break they have had for a long time. It was important that they were mentally fresh for that process.

"With a lot of cricket coming up, the Corporate Cup - and quite a few players playing in that - and then three games in Sri Lanka, then we have a longish period before we play our first game in Champions Trophy before the 26th. We feel, with that included, we have got quite a lot of preparation time." Kirsten also said the time they would get in South Africa would be crucial for the preparations as well.

The 'short' word was not far away, but Kirsten said he wasn't unduly worried about the troubles the young batsmen have had handling the short-pitched stuff recently. "I only saw the short-pitch ball being a problem in just one game in the T20 World Cup, so I don't see that as a problem. We are playing the 50-over version now, which is very different from T20. But within, in terms of our gameplans, our training, our structures, we try and cover every base that we need to cover to make sure we give ourselves best chance of success. That might be one of it, but there might be a whole lot others."

Over the next three days, they will get to working on the various skill sets - both in nets session and open-wicket practice at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The players can expect the coming days to be as intense as the camp they had around this time last year in Bangalore, or the five days they spent in New Zealand before their first match. Kirsten has a reputation for being an unobtrusive but tough taskmaster, and more of it seemed in store.

"We have put a big focus on our conditioning, because it is a nice break they have had," he said. "It's given them time to work on that side of their game. Equally, it's time for us to start upping the intensity on our practising. We are going to be hitting a lot of balls over the next three-four days, the guys are going to be bowling a lot to get back on track."