A big first innings score will be critical: John Wright

India has a good chance of winning the series against England this summer; at worst it will be forced into a draw, predicts team coach John Wright.

He adds the key to the team's markedly improved performance is better fitness and more familiarity with playing in overseas conditions.

As India and England battle it out in the fourth and final Test at the Oval, which begins Thursday, September 5, Wright has had an opportunity to reminisce about the ups and downs about the Indian team's tour and where they all go from here.

"I just want us to play really good cricket," he told rediff in an exclusive interview at the Oval. "If we can play really good cricket then whatever happens with the result we will draw at worst and we will have a good tour of England."

"I think it is an opportunity for us. We've been in the situation with overseas tours like Zimbabwe where we lost one and drew the series, and then against Sri Lanka we were one all going into the last Test and then to finish it off we lost that. The same occurred in the West Indies so this is a big opportunity for us.

"Particularly in England it is something special from that point of view. It's a bit like the one day final, it is a game we really want to win, it's a long time since we won a series overseas."

The former Kiwi skipper, who was appointed Indian coach in November 2000, is personally responsible for appointing a full time fitness expert to keep members of the team at peak condition and he says that appointment is beginning to pay dividends.

"The BCCI president Mr Dalmiya at my request got a full time fitness expert Adrian La Rue -- who has been travelling with this team since the West Indies tour and that is about five to six months now," Wright said.

"His work has started to come through now and the boys are noticeably fitter. It's a lot longer... two or three years from now we'll really start to reap the benefits, but it is starting to show and I think it is starting to show not only in athleticism but you know you have to have the self discipline to get fit etc. I think it helps in the mental toughness.

"Every player has six sessions which is a mix of aerobics and weight training and Adrian monitors them on an individual basis and works with them on an individual basis.

"So that's going on while we are touring and we measure that meticulously and we note the progress."

Wright notes that other Test teams have full time fitness staff and the appointment of someone like La Rue was long overdue.

He added, " We're trying to take it to another level and certainly we have all the natural skills, very high hand to eye coordination, brilliant suppleness and wristiness. But we need power for things like throwing, sprinting and fast bowling.

"We need a bit more strength and we need to work at those sorts of areas. The game's changed a little bit in that respect.

"Now we are getting to a culture where everyone knows they have standards of fitness that need to be achieved. I think it is no coincidence that our best workers on this tour -- Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan -- have really warmed to this and they are playing really good cricket.

"I think we are getting better at it, we are getting more confident, we are winning more games overseas and I certainly feel the boys are a lot more at home in overseas conditions than perhaps we used to be, particularly the batsmen."

Asked what the significance of overseas conditions was, Wright replied, "That means on pitches that move around a lot more than in Indian conditions, there's a lot more seam off the wicket.

"There's no substitute for more touring and more experience. A lot of the boys have played a lot of cricket in England and that's been helpful here. They feel very at home in England and that helps.

"I encourage that so long as there's no burn out because they do need a rest and we do have an extensive international programme. If they can gain in any experience whether it is cricket or life, it is always helpful.

"We're adjusting better, we're getting a lot more experience and what we see now is we've put a lot of work into the fitness. It is showing in our fast bowling, particularly in Zaheer Khan who is now a much more finished athlete."

Wright agrees with cricket analysts who say India's strength is its batting, adding that the performance of the batsmen will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the Oval Test.

What is important for the future, he says, is to better organise the opening batsmen's slot to rival the middle order batting that "stacks up to anyone anywhere in the world.

"Our tail's always been a bit long, we're working hard at getting lots of practice for people like Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar -- we've got to extract some runs from them.

"I feel our batting is very important to us in this final Test. I feel if we can keep our consistency going with the bat we probably need to score a minimum 350 in the first innings.

"If we can do that and get it up to say 450, then we can put a lot of pressure, particularly psychologically. It suits the game for us.

"I think this is going to be a tough test. The reason Headingley was good for us is that the batting was brilliant, it was our best chance of taking 20 wickets.

"Here it is going to be a better batting wicket so it will be very helpful if we can get a big first innings score. That will be critical and will allow our spinners to come into the game."

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