Kaif and Yuvraj all praise for training methods

The new, training-in-batches approach currently being used by the Indian team in Bangalore has come in for more praise from the players. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif became the latest fans of the system, in which the entire squad is split into batches of five, who undergo a rigorous three-day training. The first lot of players - Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan - finished their stint on Friday, and Kaif and Yuvraj expressed their satisfaction with the training technique.

"I have played for my country for five years and I have never experienced something like this camp before," gushed Kaif. "We start with yoga at seven and finish by about five or six with some swimming in the evening. We were at the ground the whole day, we interacted with the coach, captain and as players we got a chance to know each other better."

One of the innovations included playing with a golf ball, and both Kaif and Yuvraj were especially impressed with this technique. "The drills were challenging. Especially while practising with the golf ball, you have to focus hard. We challenged ourselves at practice by playing on different wickets -- slow, fast, good and bad. We also used the new ball, old ball, used the machine with some spin on the ball. In the long-term this camp will benefit us," Kaif said.

Yuvraj too pointed out the benefits of playing with the golf ball. "Practising with a golf-ball which is smaller in size helps in our timing and when we go out there in the middle and practise with normal cricket balls, it helps us middle the ball very well. It was also a good experience playing against bowling machines placed higher as it helps us in getting adjusted."

Greg Chappell, the coach, was also satisfied with the progress made by the players. "We are very happy with the first camp. We have had a lot of time with each of the players and have worked on specific areas. We have also been able to work on specific simulation exercises for the sort of things we expect to be confronted with in the next few months. From my point of view and from the coaching staff point of view, we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. The feedback from the players has been positive and we hope that the next two camps will go just as well. We are grateful to the NCA's facilities that have helped us cover a lot of things in a very short span of time."

Looking ahead to the tri-series in Malaysia - involving Australia and West Indies - Chappell admitted he wasn't sure about the kind of pitches there. "We really don't know what we are going to be confronted with in Malaysia but we expect the wickets to be on the slower side. We have to wait and see and we have to adjust once we go there."

The first batch of five players will return home while the next lot - consisting of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, RP Singh, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth - will begin their three-day stint on Saturday.