Sreesanth to open bowling

The Indian team may have some surprises up its sleeve for Sri Lanka in the coming one-day series, coach Greg Chappell indicated.

Talking about the three-day camp for the team that concluded in Bangalore on Friday, Chappell said: "The objective was really to try a few things we are planning to use against Sri Lanka. We looked at a few different tactics and a few different bowling combinations."

During the camp ahead of the series in which India plays seven one-dayers against Marvan Atapattu's side, the players did a closed-door video analysis of the Sri Lankan team.

Chappell said Kerala speedster Sreesanth, the lone new face in the 15-member squad named for the first two games against the Islanders, beginning at Nagpur on Tuesday, would be given the new ball.

"More than likely that Sreesanth would open the attack in the games that he plays. But we are likely to try different combinations at different times. But at this stage, we would be using him as an opening bowler, yes," he said.

On the morale of the Indian squad, the coach said: "We are in pretty good shape, mentally and physically. The group is looking pretty good. We will only find out when we get there. But from the point of view of preparation, everyone is quite happy."

Chappell said the camp went off very well.

"We got quite a bit out of it."

He said Yuvraj Singh and Murali Kartik were unwell with fever in the last two days.

"All in all, I am very happy with the three days," he said. The only "downside" he saw was the absence of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.

But Chappell said since the two are joining the squad that is assembling in Nagpur two days before the first one-dayer, they would be brought together nicely.

According to him, Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra and Mohammed Kaif, who are undergoing rehabilitation, are a few weeks away from playing competitive cricket.

Chappell said the disappointing performances of Dravid and Virender Sehwag, part of the World XI team, in the limited-over' Super Series and the Test against world champions Australia, would not have a "big bearing" on India's prospects in the series against Sri Lanka and South Africa.

"I don't think any of them performed all that brilliantly. So, it was one of those things. I don't think it has big bearing on what's going to happen in the next few weeks."

To a question, the coach admitted that Indian wickets are pretty tough on fast bowlers.

"We know conditions in India are very much in favour of batsmen.

"It's a matter of bowling the ball in the right areas, accepting that some overs, some balls, some games are not going to work out very well. What we need is to make sure that we have four or five bowlers bowling well each day. From the young bowlers' point of view, they have to learn from their experience."