NEW DELHI: As India tries to recover from back-to-back debacles in the Test series against New Zealand and Australia, BCCI has identified lack of team bonding and the need for a strict fitness regimen as key areas to be worked upon.
TOI understands while the board has received strong feedback from head coach Gautam Gambhir on these issues, itwill also reassess his role after the upcoming Champions Trophy next month.
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At a meeting between BCCI, Gambhir, captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, it was mentioned there should be curbs on the amount of time players spend with wives/partners on a long tour. The fact that some players prefer to travel alone and asked for separate accommodation on tours was discussed.

BCCI feels team bonding missing
Gambhir’s involvement with the team beyond the field too has been questioned, and he could be advised to have more team bonding exercises.
“The board is a bit concerned that a team which has been so consistent across formats for more than half a decade is suddenly struggling to click with almost the same set of players. It comes down to a lack of galvanising force in the team. It has emerged that players are consumed in their individual lives once they are done with training or a game,” a BCCI source said.
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“Players these days have their families around along with a big entourage. Some have even requested to stay in different hotels and a few have made their own travel arrangements within the country. These players are barely seen with the rest of the team. The board is contemplating restricting the length of stay for families to two weeks on a lengthy tour,” the source added.
On a key observation coming out of the meeting about the need to rebuild team spirit beyond game time, the source said, “One expected the team to have a customary celebratory team dinner after India won the first Test in Perth. Instead, everyone in the squad went out in groups.

Gambhir went out with his own people. There was only one team dinner during the two-month tour. Previous team management used to organize outdoor activities with the entire team. It helps in building team spirit,” the source said.
TOI understands that Gambhir has cancelled the culture of optional training sessions for the same reason. He feels that the entire team needs to train together to enhance synergy amongst the players and there is no point of a handful of players turning up for practice.
Return to strict fitness levels?
It has been suggested that the BCCI medical team should go back to having fitness criteria for selection instead of just focusing on injury prevention. The previous team management had done away with the yo-yo test that was a key parameter for selection during Virat Kohli’s captaincy days.
“The board had gone lenient on the players since they are mostly on the road. The focus had shifted to just injury prevention. This has been taken lightly by some players. It is being mooted that a certain fitness level criteria needs to be reintroduced so that complacency doesn’t creep in,” the source said.