The frenzy surrounding the India-West Indies Test series is palpable in the whole country. But while everyone seeing this series as a means to say goodbye to Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian team has ensured their focus doesn’t get swayed amid all the distractions.

The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, assured one and all that the team will go into the first Test, at the Eden Gardens, with the sole aim of winning it and that his team has done well to remain in their own bubble of concentration during the build-up.

“We all expected this. It is good when you know that these things are going to happen because that allows you to be mentally prepared,” Dhoni said on the eve of the Kolkata Test. “We have tried our best to keep the distractions to the minimum and so far we’ve succeeded to a great extent. Once the game starts, we won’t be entertaining anyone in that regards and so we’re sorted.”

Dhoni’s concerns are more cricket-based. The first is that of having to adapt to the five-day format after more than six straight months of limited overs cricket.

“When playing Test cricket in India, the ball doesn’t come on as well as it does in the ODIs. So even if the wicket is not doing too much, you have to respect the pace of the track and judge it well. When you can’t do that, there will be a lot of dismissals at short cover, point or mid-off. We have to adjust well in that regards and I think the preparations will help us address that issue in the match,” the skipper said.

Another area of worry for Dhoni is the lack of options when it comes to an all-rounder. It was evident that he is already feeling the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, who is out of the series with a shoulder strain.

“I’ve always said that we need either a good seam bowler who can bat decently or a frontline spinner who can score useful runs. Now that we don’t have Jadeja, we’re thinking whether we should have a fifth bowler in form of another spinner. But that raises another question of whether the batting will become too thin. We need to find more such guys.”

From that problem raises another question – will either of Rohit Sharma or Ajinkya Rahane get a game? If yes, who? While presenting all the lines of thought, Dhoni kept his cards close to his chest, like always.

“The decision is one but it is divided into three different aspects – whether we want to go with five bowlers or play four bowlers and have someone who can bowl part-time off-spin if needed or if we want to play with only four bowlers and no part-timers. If we go with five bowlers, none of them will play. If we want a bit of bowling, Rohit stands a chance and in case we don’t need a fifth option, it will be Ajinkya,” said Dhoni.

While vagueness prevailed over which of the two young Mumbai batsmen will get a game, there was a bit of hint that said Bhuvneshwar Kumar could be in the Playing XI.

“He has been giving us good starts with the new ball in the limited overs format, irrespective of whether there is help for him in the wicket,” Dhoni said in the praise of the young pacer. “It is important that we get those two quick wickets with the new ball in Tests too, as it helps the spinners later on.”

While Dhoni had a lot of good things to say about another young fast bowler, Mohammad Shami, he slightly hinted that he might have to wait just a bit more for his Test debut.

“Shami is shaping up very well. In the ODIs he has given us important breakthroughs. He’s someone who bowls at a good pace and can bowl accurate yorkers. Overall he is doing pretty well and we need to keep working with him so he can improve his fitness and bowl those long spells in Test cricket,” Dhoni said.

In the end, the conversation invariably veered towards Sachin Tendulkar again. But the Indian captain once again showed his remarkable ability to keep things in perspective. When asked whether Team India will dedicate the series to Sachin Tendulkar if they win it, Dhoni said, “First we have to focus on winning the series and then we will decide who to dedicate it to. You can give something to someone only after you have it.”

The Indian captain’s answer came as an assurance that he will not let his lads go astray in their concentration, no matter the distractions.