Rahul Dravid's more relaxed now: John Gloster

As the cricket series gets underway, he talks to CS about how Rahul Dravid is striving hard to become a good captain:

Rahul on the hot seat
Shane Warne (ex-captain of Rajasthan Royals) has left his mark on us, which is great and will never be forgotten but we are moving in a different direction with Rahul Dravid as the current captain of the franchise. In the last few months, he has been heavily involved with the team and specifically the blossoming players. He has been training and interacting with them on a daily basis. The direction he has given the young players is brilliant. I have never seen Rahul so relaxed.

Indian cricket team's fitness
Look at any team in the world, they all need to get fitter. I think we need to get smarter about fitness. We are sometimes piling on fitness programs on the players. It's difficult to be well prepared all the time. Rest periods are extremely important to destress. More than physical fatigue they go through mental fatigue.

Seniors gel with juniors
I respect the fact that the young players are gelling with the senior players. Seniors in turn are appreciating as well as encouraging them to excel. They are a matured group of cricketers as a whole. They accept the fact that some of them have limitations and they are willing to work on them. A mix of seniors and juniors is needed in a team. The young players need seniors on and off the ground as their mentors.

Making India healthy
It's essential for Indian cricketers to expose themselves to new concepts and smarter devices when it comes to health. These concepts already exist in other countries in the world and must be promoted in India as well.u00a0