The frosty conditions in Belfast have taken its toll on Indian players as more than half of the team has been affected by viral flu ahead of their match against South Africa on Tuesday.
In that scenario, it was understandable that concern ringed in skipper Rahul Dravid's voice.
"Quite a few boys in the team are suffering from viral fever, flu and symptoms of that kind. Sreesanth, Agarkar, Dhoni, RP Singh and Powar have not come today. Yuvraj, myself, Zaheer and Robin are also feeling a bit down," Dravid said.
With time at a premium for recovery, the team management has decided to call up Baroda pace bowler Rakesh Patel as back-up for Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar, who are certain to miss Tuesday’s game. Patel is currently playing league cricket in England.
"We have called up Rakesh Patel from one of the leagues here as a back-up for the fast bowlers. We're a bit doubtful in that department," he said.
He added that pacemen Ranadeb Bose and Ishant Sharma, who are in the Test squad, will be flown in before the second match against South Africa on Friday.
When Dravid hoped they can assemble 11 men on the field, he was just being realistic. "It is not ideal. A lot of guys have been down — nearly everyone — and hopefully, we can get 11 players fit on the park and try to play some good cricket. But there is not much you can do about it. Hopefully, we should be able to bounce back from this and for the next two matches, we would have a full team to choose from," he said.

Unfortunate
"In fact, we've enjoyed coming to Ireland, it's just a shame about the health of some of the boys. They were looking forward to going around and seeing a bit of Belfast, some of them did that yesterday. But for the others, it's been unfortunate that they were confined to the room," Dravid added.
Did the team management consider the option of cancelling or postponing Tuesday's tie? "We did consider that possibility, but there are a lot of things to be considered. A one-day game involves TV, tickets, spectators, catering, etc. Moving it by a day at the last minute was proving to be too difficult, so we've decided to go with what was there," he said.
Dravid also said London-based physio Nitin Patel will join the team in place of John Gloster, who hurt his elbow last week and will undergo a surgery on Wednesday.
"Nitin Patel will replace Gloster. He will come here to take over for a few weeks. John is going to have a surgery on Wednesday and should be back with the team in two-three days to help and guide Patel for three or four weeks before he can be fit again to resume duties," he said.