Dominica, July 7: India’s recently appointed fielding coach Trevor Penney has played a huge part in India’s outstanding work in the field in the ongoing tour to the West Indies. Before the start of play on Day 2 of the Dominica Test, Penney spoke about the challenge of coaching the Indian team and the importance of balancing the workload given India’s hectic international schedule.

Excerpts from the conversation:

On whether he feels any extra pressure in dealing with the No. 1 team in the world

No. I find it exciting, especially with the fielding, because I knew it’s one area that might have needed some improvement. And I think that the team is still young enough, there are youngsters coming through. All that makes it exciting rather than [creating] any kind of pressure.

On whether he has been doing anything on the slip catching front which has been outstanding

Yes, definitely. We’ve done heaps of that. Duncan [Fletcher] is a big slip man as well. We’ve practiced a lot of slippers as well as a lot of other things. And with the wickets that we’ve played on, there have been a lot of catches in the slips. It’s actually worked off.

On the attitude of the Indian players, including the senior players, during the fielding drills

Oh, very hard working. The last two or three months there’s been a World Cup, there’s been T20 and now we came straight into this. You’ve got to monitor how much you do. You’ve got to get the nets in as well as playing one-dayers and Tests. You can’t actually do as much as you want. So it’s more the short stuff which is much better than the long practices. They’ve all been up for it and keen to improve.

On the importance of balancing the workload given the amount of cricket India are playing

It’s the most difficult part of coaching, especially with the Indian team who play more than any other team. We often talk about it, have meetings about it. Especially with the older players - you’ve just got to monitor how much they do. Everything you do, make it specific so there’s no wasting time, wasting energy. It seems to be working well.

On how he manages to keep players interested in the various drills

With regard to fielding practices, you’ve got to make it competitive. You have competitions within your practice. When you practice the skill, then you move on to a little competition to see how they are improving and whether they are trying to beat their partner. The team loves that.

On whether he was looking forward to the senior players returning for the England tour

Definitely. One particular big one – Sachin [Tendulkar]. I think we already have a couple of big, senior players with us now. So I don’t think it’s going to be any different. We can’t wait for them [the other senior players] to come back for the England series.