Sports India

After three days of sweat and secrecy, Rahul Dravid and his men were back on the familiar terrain of flashbulbs and autograph hunters. The skipper was a visibly pleased man as he spoke to the media at length about the closed-door training stint at the Pegasus Centre besides dwelling on the forthcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka and the welcome return of Sachin Tendulkar.

Excerpts

On the three-day stint: It’s a good set-up in Doddaballapur. Executives from more than 100 companies have trained there in the last eight years. The activities we did were challenging physically and mentally. It also involved teamwork. It was a good experience and helped some of our boys to explore different facets of their personality. Not many have the opportunity to train and be on their own without having a lot of people around them, without having the press constantly photographing them. The challenge for us is not only about helping them grow as cricketers but also to help them grow as people.

On specific activities: Most of the activities were something which none of the guys had done before. I have seen some reports that we did rock-climbing and rafting but we didn’t do any of them. Pegasus is a set-up, which has some sort of army drills, and the physical aspect is something that we as athletes can do but it also challenges you mentally to finish the task. It was a nice experience to stay in tents and do new things but we didn’t go there just to bond but we also went there to help the guys explore themselves in terms of their physical and mental aspects.

On the World Cup team: I’m not a selector and not in a position to give a definite answer but I feel everyone who is playing domestic cricket is available for selection. Obviously these 20 are the ones who have played for us in the recent past. They include the 15 scheduled to tour Sri Lanka and the others who played for us in the West Indies. But if some special talent crops up in the next few months, we will definitely not ignore him.

On Tendulkar’s return: Sachin responded well and did everything that was asked of him. Obviously we had our physio to advise us in case anything we did had a risky element in it but then we did not do anything like that and he participated in every single thing we did. He was very keen and looks in very good shape but more than shape, he looks in a very good state of mind and that is most important to me.

On the tri-series: Sri Lanka at home is a tough outfit. It has always been a challenging tour. We are all excited about it and if we perform well there, it will be a good start to our season.

On future camps: It depends on situations and what we are trying to achieve. It did help us in the last three days and in the future if we come across a similar situation, then we might do it again or we might do something completely new.