The players, captain S P Misra, coach Zishan Ali have started the preparations for the big challenge ahead as the team slugged it out at the R K Khanna Tennis stadium.
Former national champion V M Ranjeet, Vijayant Malik, who will be in action on the first day of tie on Friday, and reserves -- Arjun Kadhe and Ashwin Vijayraghavan -- trained under the watchful eyes of Misra and Zishan.
Leander Paes, the top player of the side, and Purav Raja are yet to join the team although they too have started practicing together in Mumbai.
For Misra it was business as usual while Zishan, for whom it is his first assignment with the national team, it was more of knowing and establishing a rapport with the young players.
Asked if Misra was emotional since it will be his last assignment as captain, pat comes the reply, "No, not at all."
"Everything has to end one day. Nobody can go forever. Players and captains come and go. The games goes on," said the outgoing non-playing captain.
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"It is like any other tie for me. I am focused on the job. It's going to be a good challenge for us."
The rebel players had demanded that the captain be changed to which AITA agreed but the national body chose to give Misra a farewell tie and also did not accede to the players choice of captain.
Asked Misra how he rates the players at his disposal for the Korea tie, he said: "They are of the same standard who played in the New Zealand tie. The only thing is that they are
Inexperienced, have not played five set matches. So it is a huge challenge to deliver." MORE