What to look out for

'Team India' is in the news, for its out-of-the-box training techniques on the eve of the triangular series in Sri Lanka. The players were extensively photographed in army uniforms, climbing obstacles and defying gravity in a special training session organised on the outskirts of Bangalore. These training methods attracted the attention of cricket-lovers all over the country. Opinions were divided, with some people welcoming the novelty of the techniques, and others commenting that a group of cricketers would be better off playing cricket instead of crossing obstacles.

The brains trust of the Indian team, which went along with the idea of starting the season on an unconventional note, will be eager to impress upon the cricket-loving public that the players benefited from the sessions. The proponents and opponents of the Indian team’s ‘military adventure’ will be waiting to check whether these methods have had any bearing on the performances of the team on the field. The tri-series in Sri Lanka, in which India will be pitted against Sri Lanka and South Africa, will give them the opportunity to do so.

South Africa will look to erase memories of its traumatic loss to Sri Lanka in the first Test of the ongoing series. The likes of Andrew Hall and Jacques Rudolph displayed some form in the second innings of the first Test, and Ashwell Prince will no doubt exhort the others to emulate their example.

The predictable happened in the first Test of the series between Sri Lanka and South Africa, with that man Muttiah Muralitharan spinning out the opponent with figures of 10-172. What lies in store for the South Africans in the second Test