Team composition no longer a 'guarded secret'

Cuttack, Jan 23 (UNI) The Greg Chappell era has seen an iron-curtain being stoically kept between the people and the team composition till just before the matches got underway.

The curtain seems to be coming up as Rahul Dravid today talked about first XII at the customary pre-match media conference.

Starting from the South African tour, the team management has been giving a fair idea to the media of the team composition a day before the match day.

Skipper Rahul Dravid, however, denies that there was any gameplan or strategy to keep this crucial piece of news away from the media.

''There was no such gameplan,'' Dravid said.

However, he said at times the team management wanted to keep the opponents guessing and maintain the surprise element.

''Sometimes we don't want the opposition to get to know our playing XI. We think it will benefit the team. We do this when there are some new players about whom the opposition has no clue. So, for strategic reasons we don't spell out the exact team in advance,'' he said.

But why the change of heart? ''Now we are comfortable. So, we are giving the team out. In fact, though we were losing in South Africa, before every match I was giving the team. People chose to ignore it as we were losing then.'' UNI BA DH PM1741