The Indian cricket team’s dressing room environment has been a hot topic of discussion since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach. After India lost the home Test series against New Zealand, followed by a drubbing in Australia, multiple reports claimed that all was not well. These reports highlighted numerous leaks about disagreements among captain Rohit Sharma, Gambhir, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, suggesting a divided dressing room.
However, on Sunday, when the Indian T20I side — minus the three retired T20I stars Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja — took the field at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata to prepare for the five-T20I series against England, the team environment painted a different picture altogether.
Gambhir and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav kick-started proceedings by addressing the team huddle, which was followed by a lap around the ground. It was after a long time that the Indian team was seen taking such a lap, reminiscent of club cricket days. As the players jogged around in synchrony, one thing was noticeable: the team environment. It felt like a happy dressing room, free from all the baggage and pressure, with players sharing plenty of banter and laughs. Observing the players having fun on the field, it seemed as if the tour of Australia had been a bad dream. One might wonder where things went wrong during that gruelling two-month trip, where reports of dressing room unrest dominated the news media.
This was followed by a fun catching session led by fielding coach T Dilip. The loud laughs and excellent team chemistry were the highlights of the session as the players thoroughly enjoyed their time with each other. After completing the warm-up drills and catching sessions, players like Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, Tilak Verma and Dhruv Jurel padded up and were divided into three nets.
During India’s first net session, Rinku clearly stood out for his timing and smashing the bowlers, especially the spinners. Gambhir was also seen having a lengthy chat with Sanju, which lasted for about half an hour, with the wicketkeeper-batter who has missed the cut for the Champions Trophy. Sanju appeared a bit rusty, frequently failing to time the ball against the likes of Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami and other pacers.
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Shami, back with the squad, was spotted with a strapping on his left knee. However, he bowled the most at the nets, followed by a one-on-one bowling session with bowling coach Morne Morkel. Shami was moving the ball both ways and was in constant conversation with Gambhir, who kept a close watch on the proceedings.
Morkel was quite active, conducting one-on-one sessions with Hardik Pandya and Shami separately. At the session’s end, he was seen working with Nitish Kumar Reddy, when he bowled to Axar Patel. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has also joined the team, but interestingly, he wasn’t seen doing much beyond a few brief chats with the batters here and there.
It remains to be seen how Kotak, who has been working at the NCA for four years, fits into the coaching set-up. While it’s not wise to read too much into batting sessions for the T20 format, players like Rinku, Hardik and Dhruv Jurel were seen having separate range-hitting drills. Ravi Bishnoi was icing his thigh after the leggie got hit off a rebound while bowling at the nets. The injury didn’t look serious. Arshdeep Singh was the only player missing. He is set to join the squad in Kolkata on Sunday night, while England opted for a break after landing in the City of Joy on Sunday.
However, the biggest takeaway from India’s practice session at Eden Gardens was the noticeable change in team camaraderie compared to Australia, where the atmosphere seemed somewhat serious with palpable tension, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney.
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