Sourav & Sachin seek Indian summer in England

I hope he enjoys himself there, allows himself to laugh and doesn’t look upon his second innings in county cricket as batting practice alone. Truth be told, that is what it probably is, but if he enjoys himself, rediscovers the joys of being wedded to cricket, and to cricket alone, he will find within himself the energy that seemed missing from his game. There is no better cricketer than a happy cricketer, there is no sadder cricketer than a lonely cricketer.

It is a very good time to work on his fitness as well. As the years go by, and as they take all us with them they take Ganguly too, training can become a chore, workouts can become a drag. But Ganguly’s future will lie in squeezing years out of his body, the fitter and more loose limbed he is, the better chance he gives himself.

Tendulkar too finds himself at the crossroads, not because his bat has lost its sweet spot but because different parts of his body are complaining. He has a bad elbow, a bad back and a bad toe and even adrenaline and an unmatched desire for a contest cannot overcome that. The fact that he needed surgery and that his latest scans show greater degeneration means he was severely handicapped; more than he probably let us believe.

No sportsman likes to visit a surgeon, even though they are often saviours of careers. That Tendulkar has chosen to take four months off in search of more complete recovery means he is looking at a four-year playing horizon. The odds are against him lasting that long even though he will only be 36 by then. It will mean 20 years on the road; salesmen do that kind of time and they don’t have to keep their body in peak fitness. They don’t have to spend seven hours running around in hot and humid Colombo, in cold and blustery England, in dusty Faridabad and Faisalabad.

The fact that he has needed surgery also explains his batting style in the last year. The nudges and glides are shots that are born out of wristwork, with Tendulkar there is sometimes a dominant right hand as well, especially when he turns faster bowlers behind square. His trademark shots were the firm hits off his back foot where he stood upright and used a strong left hand to control a heavy bat. Those had been packed away because the elbow had lost its strength.

I guess only an experienced doctor will be able to tell us how much is left in that elbow but as someone who has derived enormous pleasure from watching Tendulkar since he was 15, I will settle for another 2,000 runs and five centuries. Anything more than that will be a bonus, an extension of an act that is not on the programme. Anything less will be disappointing but will not tarnish the memories.

With Ganguly and Tendulkar away, it means there are two top-order places open in the limited overs side that goes to Sri Lanka. India have a long-term decision to make here. If they pick VVS Laxman to occupy one of those, they must keep an open mind on him till the World Cup of 2007. He is too good, and too senior, a player to be brought in as a short term replacement.

The alternative will be to bat Kaif at no 3, Yuvraj at no 4 and reward people like JP Yadav and Venugopala Rao. The team that goes to Sri Lanka must provide the first insight into what we have in mind for the World Cup of 2007.