Sourav Ganguly’s smiling face, when he arrived at the Mumbai airport from Kolkata, suggested enough that the pain in his elbow had disappeared. It was only a matter of formality for BCCI Executive Secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty to officially announce that the medical experts had declared Ganguly match-fit.Shetty read out a statement to a strong media contingent on Ganguly’s injury status. ‘‘Dr Anant Joshi and John Gloster have re-evaluated Ganguly’s elbow and were of the opinion that he is fit to go ahead and play the Duleep Trophy match,’’ the statement read. Ganguly will be joining his East Zone teammates in Rajkot on Wednesday.The media was keen on asking Gloster and Dr Joshi as to how did an injury like the dreaded tennis elbow take so little time to heal. Was it as serious as it was made out to be? How mild was it in comparison to Tendulkar’s tennis elbow? Was there an injury after all? But both Gloster and Joshi evaded these uncomfortable questions, giving the inquisitive mediapersons a slip.Ganguly’s injury and the speedy recovery gains importance in view of Greg Chappell’s email to the BCCI, where the coach had accused the Ganguly of ‘‘faking injuries, merely imagining them.’’ Ganguly, as it appears at the moment, has managed see the dice rolling in his favour once again. He has proved that there was an injury which he wasn’t faking and to ascertain the point that he was willing to play under Rahul Dravid. More importantly, however, the injury-break has kept him away from cricket and media scrutiny for a few days.Dr Joshi and Gloster had examined Ganguly on October 7 in Mumbai, soon after the Indian team returned from the tour of Zimbabwe. Gloster had earlier explained how Ganguly was feeling a minor pain in his elbow right from the start of the series and how the injury had flared up during the practice match in Mutare.‘‘Whatever assessment Dr Joshi and John Gloster have made is all what it is about, I have nothing to say. I am looking forward to the Rajkot match,’’ said Ganguly. But he doesn’t look overly concerned about the fact that the elbow might not stand up to the strain of a four-day match.At Rajkot, there are two important things that Ganguly has to prove to meet Chappell’s requirements: Fitness and form. In theory, both the cases rest in Ganguly’s favour. The doctors have cleared him and he’s looked in good touch while at the nets in Kolkata for the past few days. Now it is left for the southpaw to prove it on the field.
