Chennai, Dec 12: Coach Duncan Fletcher spoke to media about the Indian squad and his role in the side before leaving for the tour to Australia. Fletcher believes that India are on the right track as far as the preparation for the series is concerned and that acclimatising to the conditions would be key.

Excerpts from Fletcher’s pre-tour press conference:

On Zaheer Khan's fitness

From the reports [received], he came to the nets in Mumbai and put in a little spell there and looked impressive. It’s important that he looked in very good condition as compared to when he came from England. He has gone through these two [Ranji] games – [that is] the idea of preparation. We don’t want to rush him too quickly and obviously the one three-day game is important for him. It’s important that he gets through that and puts in a lot of work in that game. That’s the idea of a build-up, going from that game into the first Test.

On adapting to the bouncy wickets in Australia

We have sent some of the players [out there] early and put in two warm-up games hoping they do adapt [to the conditions] in that period of time. Ideally that is enough but I hope that the nets that they give us would be of the same sort of quality [as those used in Tests] and from that they will be able to adapt quickly enough. We will see when we go into that first Test.

On the Australian team going through a transition phase and on India going in with a positive mindset

When an Australian side goes through a transition, […] they do come back fighting. As MS [Dhoni] said earlier, it is important we do not look at their game but make sure we look at ours, put in the kind of performances that the side is capable of, and stay away from injuries. [If we do all that] I think we have got a good chance in Australia. But at the end of the day they’ve got some cricketers there who are out of form; we’ve just got to be wary and keep them out of form. That’s going to be the most critical area.

On whether the two bowlers out of the team due to injury necessitated a change of plan

As I had said earlier, with the bowler who was injured, I think we have to make sure that one of the bowler’s preparations is a slow build-up. That is enough for him to be fit enough going into the Test match. If you are talking about Ishant Sharma, he has had a nice rest and come through. He was totally free from injury when he finished the Test match in Mumbai. He has gone out there fresh. It is important that they have little breaks between series. Everything that we have heard so far is that they are ready to go.

On whether the Australian bowling attack was the weakest thus far

We will have to make the decision after we face them. Then we can tell you whether they are the weakest. At the end of the day, as I said earlier, if we go there with a complacent attitude we could get [into trouble]. It is important that we go there with the attitude that they have the best bowling attack. They have good bowlers and we’ve got to be wary that we put in the right performances.

On motivating the youngsters in the team

The key word you used was ‘youngsters’ and I don’t think that the youngsters we’ve got need motivating. I think what you are saying is, ‘How do we get them to learn and [gain] experience very quickly’, and that’s very crucial, I agree. Having worked with them, they’ve been talking about some of the aspects of touring Australia already. Just a matter of talking to them one-on-one [and] making them think about the game [has been helpful]. The most important thing is to not make it too complicated for them. They have enough learning as it is and [it’s about] just making sure they are confident in their ability. That’s the most crucial part; [ensuring that] each individual is confident in what he can do and committed to that.

On the challenge of playing in Australia versus the challenge in South Africa

I don’t think it’s much different. […] When we talk about these bouncy wickets, they are not as bouncy as people make them out to be. In fact the bounciest wicket we’ve played on was when we toured the West Indies […]. It is crucial that we don’t overemphasise something because then we are looking for things that aren’t really there. That can be a fault; you’ve just got to be wary about what you talk to [the players] about. Hopefully the nets are pretty similar [and] they just learn quickly in the amount of time that they have got.