Mumbai likely venue for Indian team's camp

The conditioning camp for the Indian cricket team for the home series against Australia will, in all probability, be conducted at Mumbai. The duration of the camp will be for a minimum of two weeks.

According to information available from various sources of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) the final decision regarding the venue will be taken by the coach of the team John Wright. He is at the moment enjoying a break after the series against Zimbabwe. He is expected to arrive in India on January 14. Then he will hold discussions with the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and the BCCI secretary JY Lele regarding the venue.

The BCCI wants the camp in Mumbai simply because India will play the first Test in the same city. So this would save the BCCI any extra cost regarding the air fare of the players if the camp is held at any other city. Both Wright and Ganguly are serious about the camp and both feel that for a hard series against Australia, it will be the ideal preparatory ground.

A total of 22 cricketers will be initially asked to attend the camp. This time the BCCI wants to short list a group of players who will be used against the Australians. This is being done so that the cricketers are mentally prepared and geared up to play at short notice.

Meanwhile, the disciplinary committee of the BCCI will meet at Chennai on January 18 to discuss the recent developments on the match-fixing scandal. The committee is likely to absolve Nikhil Chopra from all the charges during the meeting. It will also discuss ways to tackle the litigation problems if Ajay Jadeja and Mohammed Azharuddin file a case in court against the BCCI's decision to ban them.