Shastri, Dravid arrive to plan strategy for Bangldesh series

Kolkata, Apr 30 (UNI) The Indian think tank, led by cricket manager Ravi Shastri and captain Rahul Dravid, arrived here 48 hours before the conditioning camp for Bangladesh tour to plan a strategy following their Caribbean debacle.

Following the disastrous World Cup campaign, the Indian team had faced a lot of flak from all and sundry and hence the Bangladesh series is crucial to put the team back on rails. The fact that in this post-Greg Chappell era, an entirely new think tank has come into being adds a new dimension to this early arrival.

Newly appointed cricket manager Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh would want to sit with skipper Rahul Dravid and chalk out a clear strategy for each player as well as for the entire team.

The think tank is supposed to sit tonight at 7 p m for a meeting on this. The meeting would also be attended by physio John Gloster and physical trainer Gregory Allan King. In the evening, logistics manager Russel Radhakrishnan will visit Eden Gardens on a recce mission to see if all the facilities are in place.

The entire think tank arrived here today and Ravi Shastrri has made it clear that the four-day camp, commencing May 2, will not be open for general public. The Indian team will arrive in batches tomorrow and fly for Dhaka on May 7.

India was shot out from the World Cup following their shock defeat to Bangladesh. Hence the Men in Blue would like to set the record straight during the series with their eastern neighbours.

Bangladesh, in the meanwhile, are on a high with wins over New Zealand, South Africa besides India within the last 75 days.

UNI