Inside India's ongoing preparatory camp in Bangalore

Here’s a sneak peek of all that has unfolded over the last five days, including the high-level India cricket road map meet that saw the likes of Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli come together and share a common platform to chart out what is best for Indian cricket.

A RAINY START

The entire squad barring Ravichandran Ashwin came together on June 29 to kick-start the preparations.

One of the earliest sights of the morning was Kumble and captain Kohli arriving at the grounds to mark the formal beginning of the former’s tenure as India’s head coach.

However, the unpredictable Bangalore rain soon forced the players to seek shelter and a major part of the training was done at the NCA’s indoor facilities.

KOHLI BRIEFS BATSMEN

A key moment was when Kohli gathered his team’s batting group around him and delivered a pep talk.

The chat which revolved around what was expected from each batsman in the upcoming season was led mainly by the nation’s star batsman.

The Indian batting line-up has been spearheaded by the captain’s rich vein of form lately and wouldn’t lack any inspiration ahead of the all-important tour.

KUMBLE GETS HIS HANDS DIRTY

Kumble was in the thick of the things when the players hit the field on a rain-free Thursday morning. The legendary Indian bowler was seen getting his hands dirty, applying saw dust to smoothen the bowlers’ landing area, and adjusting the nets in order to allow Murali Vijay more space to play his off-side strokes.

Unusual in the age of digital analysts and laptop wielding coaches, Kumble was armed with a notebook on most of the camp days and was constantly seen scribbling down his observations.

He was in fact seen spending a lot of time with the bowling unit that also comprised of India A players like Jayant Yadav and Shahbaz Nadeem. The most interesting bit however was when Kumble decided to roll his arm and bowled seam up deliveries at batsmen (after having made a mess out of the throw-down mechanical arm).

Khan heads to England to play for Dubai's G-Force Cricket Academy

Five times Anil Kumble displayed his champion spirit

Challenges that await Kumble as India coach

VIDEO: Five of Rahul Dravid's finest Test innings

UAE in line to host mini-IPL this year

Virat Kohli completes five years in Test cricket

SHIKHAR DHAWAN PRACTICES WITH A FOURTH STUMP

Dhawan who has been plagued by his weakness against the outgoing delivery outside off, took a conscious effort to mend the chink in his armour.

In one of his batting sessions, he placed a fourth stump, a few inches away from his off-stump and practiced leaving the outgoing deliveries.

Later on, in one of the press conferences, the Delhi batsman said that Indian batters were focusing on preparing for the reverse swing they were likely to encounter on the slow pitches of the Caribbean.

YOGA SESSION

Yoga was a surprise inclusion as one of the training exercises and the Indian cricketers left no stone unturned in giving their best in this unique physical exercise form.

BUDDY PROJECT RETURNS

A concept which was once popularised by former India coach John Wright has been brought back into practice by Kumble who is said to be a great admirer of Wright’s style of coaching.

The ‘buddy project’ pairs up a batsman or an all-rounder with a bowler so that the duo can freely communicate with each other and help develop each other’s games. Under Wright’s watch, Zaheer Khan had benefited the most out of this system – the left-arm seamer improved his batting a great deal after being paired up with VVS Laxman.

Four of the pairs were revealed in the press conferences: Virat Kohli & Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami & Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny & Rohit Sharma, and Amit Mishra & Cheteshwar Pujara.

BONDING SESSION

On Sunday, the entire contingent, support staff included bonded over a session of music. The session which was overseen by acclaimed actor-musician Vasundhara Das and saw the senior players along with skipper Dhoni and the A-team players enjoying a jam session, where they were all seen playing drums with Das and his musical group.

DIAL D FOR DRAVID AND DHONI

Kumble, Kohli, Dhoni and Dravid among others were a part of a first of its kind, high-level meeting aimed at charting out a road map for Indian cricket for the upcoming season.

The meeting which took place in Bangalore on Sunday was organised by the Indian board to bring “all stakeholders on the same page”.

The meeting lasted a few hours with the main objective of setting in place road maps to lift India to the top of the world rankings, and how the various support mechanisms could help in achieving that objective.

“Issues ranging from domestic cricket set-up, India A tours, injury management and workload of the players, and strengthening the bench strength of Indian cricket were discussed in detail to synchronize the efforts of everyone working for the betterment of Indian cricket,” a BCCI release said.