Dhoni takes our pacers for outside camp

                 With a lot riding on the form and fitness of his fast bowlers, MS Dhoni is keen to ensure that his pace battery is fit and firing before the World Cup. Keeping that in mind, the skipper has taken three of his fast bowlers - Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma - to a camp 200 km away from Adelaide. The rest of the team is currently in Adelaide, the venue of their two practice matches and the first World Cup game against Pakistan on February 15.

One understands that in the camp the players will do fishing, boating, rock climbing and other physical activities so that they are ready for the grind all over again in three days' time. "It's an initiative of the captain himself. It's evident that he wants his pace battery to be mentally fresh for a difficult couple of months ahead," a source told TOI.

While Ishant and Bhuvneshwar are nursing injuries - they will be assessed during the fitness test on February 7 and in a practice match against Australia a day later - Mohit has been asked to stay back following an impressive performance against England in the Perth ODI. Provided any of the pacers fail the fitness test, Mohit will be drafted in.

It's not known how physically demanding this camp will be, but Dhoni is an outdoor person who prefers players to work on their fitness. The fact that he has taken three bowlers for the camp might be a way of spending time with the group, which has struggled on the tour. "Everyone in the team knows how important it is for the pacers to fire. But for that they have to be fit and Dhoni might have had that in mind when he took his pacers along," the source added.

All four are supposed to be back Thursday night before the practice begins Friday. Shikhar Dhawan and Stuart Binny, who are currently in Melbourne and Sydney respectively, will also be back on the same day