Wright spoke to Faisal Shariff about his plans for the team, and its tune up for the WC. Excerpts:

What do you plan to achieve in the remaining 14 ODI games before the World Cup?

We have been playing well, but we need to sort out our seam bowling situation. We get away with Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly bowling on slow wickets, but their combined fifth bowling option has been costing us 60-70 runs per game on a good day - and on a bad day it can go as high as 70-85.

If you couple that with a regular bowler having a bad day, then you have a problem.

Over the next 14 games, we need to focus on that. It means the incumbents will have to do a better job, or we find a new avenue. Realistically, to bowl 30 overs of spin in South Africa will be a bit too much. We have to find a bowling all rounder who can bat in the first seven. That is the area critical for improvement to the side.

In these 14 games I am hoping that we can fiddle with the batting order. Someone who comes to mind is Ajit Agarkar, who is a capable and talented batsman. I think he needs an opportunity up the order. Other than that we are reasonable settled.

Number three has been a perennial problem over the last one year. How do you plan to tackle that? Who are the candidates for that slot?

Agarkar is a possibility. Maybe sometimes Dinesh Mongia and VVS Laxman, who are good players. Sachin Tendulkar must come in earlier if we get off to a good start and the wicket looks flat. I think we need to be flexible as to how we look at our batting order. Numbers 5,6 and 7 are pretty settled and all the batsmen have done their job outstandingly well. All the players there have shown good temperament in what is a tough position to bat.

Personally, I think 3 and 4 need to be swapped around. Against Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy we decided to send Sourav Ganguly down the order to take on spinner Muthiah Muralitharan. We elevated Mongia to the top -- and I don’t think it was the right decision --- it should have been Tendulkar.

I’d like the players to have an open mind about those changes. The game moves so fast these days, there as to be some flexibility. Sometimes bowlers should bowl where they are used to bowl and the same goes for the batsmen. Flexible sides win world cups.

Just a single defeat in the last 12 ODIs -- is it reason to be happy?

I don’t think we should get very carried about that. I have been seeing advertisements on television about bringing home pieces of silver of various shapes and colours from South Africa. That thing looks a lot like a cup to me. (laughs)

I am pleased with the progress of the side, but it will be a tough competition. We have played West Indies, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, England and South Africa. And we didn’t play well against South Africa, though we did well to win it. Like Ganguly said, we were down but we were never out of it. If Gibbs hadn’t cramped up and retired --- and though I was happy with our fighting spirit --- the match could have gone South Africa’s way.

If you analyze whom we have been playing you will realize that there is no reason to get carried away. If we pick the right side, fill some of the areas of concern and get to the top of our form we will be one of the sides who will be able to do well at the competition. This side needs a lot of improvement. In the next 14 games we will try to get to South Africa in top form.

Last October, India toured South Africa and found the wickets weren’t as bouncy as they used to be. What were the lessons learnt from that trip?

I was very pleased with the way we played in South Africa. We didn’t play well in the finals on a green top and we didn’t cope with the conditions. We are older now and more confident. We had Virender Sehwag in the middle order; Sachin and Sourav were batting at the top. They played well and got huge partnerships. I saw some of our batters bat there and on couple of occasions we saw some great performances. Ganguly and Tendulkar got hundreds in Johannesburg and I thought we could play good cricket and get big runs on it.

We played well at Centurion; we have 2 big games (Australia and Pakistan) there during the World Cup. Durban is key because it is a day-night. I was encouraged. It was not a case of going there and being unable to play their shots.

We have a lot of depth in our batting. Is that the way to challenge the opposition, by chasing whatever totals they set?

The less runs we chase in ODIs the better. You only have to beat the opposition by one run, so every one should go onto the field trying to save every run. It is true you need to take wickets to stop a side from scoring runs but at other times you have to create the pressure to take wickets. In big games, if you are going to case big totals it will be tough. I think we need to improve a lot. We did very well in Lanka by pegging the Lankans back. It was the first finals since I have been with the team where we restricted the opposition score to only 220-240.

On Rahul Dravid keeping wickets -- are you a traditionalist who believes your best keeper has to play in the eleven? Does Parthiv Patel look a good bet? Or do you think we need to go with Dravid for the world cup?

As coach of the team, I want Dravid to keep wickets in the world cup. I think he can do an adequate job and if we need to find a bowling all rounder then we need a specialist batsman to keep wickets.

We can’t have a bowling all-rounder and a keeping all rounder -- that will weaken the batting to five specialist batsmen. We have won the majority of our matches thanks to our batsmen numbers 5,6 and 7. We need to have another keeper in the squad, and the selectors are thinking about it. Over the next 14 games, the captain and the selectors will have to decide about another keeper. As coach I reckon we need to take another keeper to the world cup.

We haven’t lost a match because of Dravid -- that hasn’t happened yet.

Dravid has gotten better with the bat ever since he took up the glove work. You think that sometimes, additional responsibility works better for some players?

He works really hard at his fitness. I think he is rotating the strike much better, he understands where he needs to improve early in his innings by rotating the strike. Maybe you need to ask him about it; maybe he is enjoying the dual role. When you have seven quality batsmen in the side it is a big advantage. Of course, all of them want to go out there and win the game on their own, which is great but they also can play with a lot more freedom knowing well that there are other guys in the side who can win games too.

What kind of a camp are you planning to have before the world cup?

There are a lot of matches coming up. We will have a week in Durban before the first game. That should be sufficient. We need to be organized before we get to South Africa. Before the Cup, we will be playing seven one day games in New Zealand, and we should get our fine tuning done there. Other than that, I don’t want a long camp -- I want the boys to be fresh and hungry for the World Cup, not weary.

There have been reports that Tendulkar wants to open the batting in one-dayers. Has he ever mentioned this to the team management?

I think there is more speculation than actuality in that. He did well batting at four in England; maybe he needs to bat at three in the World Cup. Sachin can say what he wants to the media, but the main thing I know is that Sachin wants to play for the team. He is very hungry to do well at the world cup.

Where does Sanjay Bangar fit into your scheme of things?

We have limited resources in the bowling all rounder area and therefore his name would come into it. We don’t have a lot of all rounders in that area. We have JP Yadav, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Bangar.

What is your assessment of the side’s overall fitness levels?

Adrian (Le Roux) and Andrew (Kokinos) are doing a great job. A lot of credit needs to go to them for our performances. I am very happy with the back-up staff; we get along well and work as a team to get the players fit and hungry.

Zaheer Khan has been a revelation over the past few months.

Zaheer is a superb natural athlete and has finally decided to excel himself and be the best bowler of the side. He is one of our hardest training athletes, and it might be a coincidence but it is showing in the way he is bowling. He is stronger, fitter and happier; he is enjoying the success that he has worked so hard for. He just chose the right path. He worked hard and deserves a lot of cricket. A player can take a hard option or an easy option. He took the hard option and came up trumps. We could have a very special cricketer on our hands.

Are we peaking too early?

I don’t think we are anywhere close to peaking. We have a lot of areas to work on before we get there. We have to be more clinical. I know we were very tired going into the Champions Trophy and had a very lazy opening game against Zimbabwe. Against South Africa we didn’t bat very well. If we relax and play our natural cricket and get more clinical in the field, convert more run-out chances --- that is something we have missed a lot. The fielding of Mongia, Kaif, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Agarkar has been brilliant. What I am looking for is that the seniors also even up their performances in that area. We need to sort that out.

As a coach, what kind of homework do you do during the off-season?

Most of it is simple stuff. The main thing is to get our balance right and I think we have achieved that with Dravid. The batting order needs a lot of work. Players sit together and think about it. When you saw (Mohammad) Kaif at Lords it gives an enormous thrill, but it also lets you know where to play which batsman. For me Kaif is what winning is all about. Mainly it is repetition and to keep the basics right. If we can do that – with the brilliant side we have with the bat – we can achieve great heights. We need a sound foundation and we are inconsistent with that. If batsmen get runs then they need to go on and win games. We can’t get batsmen getting 40s; we need to get hundreds. We keep repeating simple stuff like line and length to the bowlers.

How would you rate the batsmen on a scale of 1-10?

Depends how many runs they get. Potentially we are an exciting prospect with a good mix and some exceptional players. But at the end of the day we need to get the job done. I think now that the youngsters like Kaif and Yuvraj have come to the party and showed everyone that we have what it takes to win, we have a nice batting combination and are not over-dependent on one or two batsmen. Tendulkar and Ganguly can get out and we can still manage a big total. If they get 300, I will give them 10 and if they get 200, I will give them two. If we start getting pleased with ourselves it is a recipe for disaster.

Complacency is an enemy; we can’t have it. My job is to see that it does not happen.

Which sides do you reckon will be the toughest to beat?

Feb 12: India vs Holland, Paarl Feb 15: India vs Australia, Centurion Feb 19: India vs Zimbabwe, Harare Feb 23: India vs Namibia, P'burg Feb 26: India vs England, Durban Mar 1: India vs Pakistan, Centurion

Australia will be the main team to beat and South Africa at home are doubly tough. It will be interesting playing New Zealand and if they can have all their players then they will be a threat. Don’t take Lanka lightly. Pakistan on their day is a top side.

World Cups bring out the best in players. How we start our tournament is very important. England will be a big game for us. We have had close games with England.

But bowling is going to win the world cup for us. If our fifth bowler goes for 60-80 consistently then opposition sides will target that.

We have to improve our fielding and get our targets right. We are a better side now and need to become even better. But I know these guys -- when they fight they can do some special things.

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