Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gary Kirsten

Calcutta: Coach Gary Kirsten’s request for a short ‘conditioning’ camp in the lead-up to the February 19-April 2 World Cup has been accepted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

It will be held at the National Cricket Academy, in Bangalore, possibly from February 8-12.

Bangalore has been chosen not only because of the excellent Academy, located within the Chinnaswamy, but India’s first warm-up match, against champions Australia, is going to be held there on February 13.

The second and last one will be in Chennai, versus New Zealand, on February 16, the day before the squad leaves for Dhaka on a chartered flight.

Our opener, against Bangladesh, is on February 19.

“Indications are that there won’t be too much physical activity at the camp, except the routine stuff. Kirsten, it seems, wants the focus to be on mental conditioning and strategising,” a well-placed source told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

Workshops may also be held. That’s something on Kirsten’s mind.

Kirsten is on leave (he stayed back in South Africa) and is expected in India, for his final weeks with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the rest, around February 6.

Meanwhile, the well-placed source said that the BCCI had given “no thought” as yet on who could be Kirsten’s successor.

With India now scheduled to be in the West Indies in June, for two Tests and five ODIs, the new coach has to be in place much earlier than initially thought of.

The tour of England is going to begin in the second week of July.