The Indian cricket team’s World Cup defeat to South Africa appears to have severely rattled the team.
The players are expected to regroup today after Saturday’s defeat – a few players went back home and even when the team landed in Chennai on Monday, stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, and Gautam Gambhir were missing.
They are likely to join the team today. "It has been a hard grind, so we have decided to take a day off. Even on Tuesday, we will only have an optional session . . . the real grind starts from Wednesday," a member of the Indian contingent told The Times of India.
But skipper MS Dhoni is already in Chennai for their next game against West Indies and so is home boy R. Ashwin. It was at Chepauk that Dhoni started experimenting with Ashwin during the last Indian Premier League and the lankie offie hasn't looked back since then.
According to indications from the team management, Ashwin will most likely play for India in the last game next Sunday, keeping in mind the number of left-handers in the West Indies team.
Dhoni, along with the coaches, will have a close look at Ashwin in the nets at the IIT-Chemplast ground today. The Indian team's practice had to be shifted from the MA Chidambaram Stadium because West Indies and England will use the venue ahead of their match on Thursday.
Meanwhile, West Indies have already started making their plans. Their coach Ottis Gibson doesn't want to read too much into India's defeat against South Africa.
"India are a fantastic side, we are in no position to underestimate them. Though we play them only on Sunday, each one of us knows that we have to be at the top of our game to turn the tables on India," Gibson said.
India's defeat (and a tie) has opened up the group to a large extent and the West Indian coach said that all the teams start feeling confident when a powerful host nation loses.
"When India lose at home, we immediately know any result is possible ... it gives confidence to the other teams and also makes the league table interesting," the coach said.