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Monday, Jun 20, 2005

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Where does Tendulkar go from here?

S. Dinakar

For the 32-year-old Tendulkar, the season gone by was a mixed bag

Chennai: When coach Greg Chappell conducts the season-beginning camp for the India probables in the first week of July, Sachin Tendulkar will not be a part of the gathering. The Indian campaigns in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe will not feature the ace batsman either.

Where does Tendulkar go from here? Will he rediscover some of his lost batting freedom after undergoing surgery for a tennis elbow in London? Does he have to seek a lighter willow when he returns to competitive cricket after around 12 more weeks?

For the 32-year-old Tendulkar, the season gone by was a mixed bag. Perhaps, the disappointments were on the higher side.

In a start-stop period, he was unable to settle into a batting rhythm. Apart from a brief phase in the Kolkata Test against Pakistan, he was not quite the dominant Tendulkar of old.

Discomfort

Diagnosed with a tennis elbow during the Videocon tri-series in Holland last August, Tendulkar apart from missing several matches, played with much discomfort. Ahead of India's tour of Bangladesh late last year, former Indian physio Andrew Leipus said when the effect of the injections receded Tendulkar would feel the pain again.

Says Chennai-based Professor of Orthopaedics Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan, "What happens in this condition is that the muscles that move the wrist, which originate from a bone above the elbow, get inflamed. Actually it affects the free movement of the wrist as the muscles get stretched. During the operation on Tendulkar these muscles would have been pushed to the forearm region so that they no longer get stretched."

Tendulkar has said batsmen changed with age. While he might never recapture his gloriously attacking ways of the past, there is a feeling that an injury-free Tendulkar could bat a lot more fluently.

"The success rate in this kind of operation is almost 100 per cent," said Indian physio John Gloster.

"With the benefit of hindsight, Tendulkar might feel he could have undergone the operation earlier than now," said former India left-hander W.V. Raman.

Gloster felt otherwise: "It (the surgery) is the last resort and in Tendulkar's case it was not delayed."

Lighter bat

There is also a point of view that the ace cricketer's bat weight should come down to between 1100 and 1200 grams. A lighter willow will enable him to venture into more top-handed strokes. It is while using the top-hand that a batsman could, over the years, be afflicted with a tennis elbow.

Raman believes the weight of the bat alone does not matter as much as the feel, the pick-up and the balance — "Dilip (Vengsarkar) revealed that he sometimes felt a twinge in his right arm and he never used a heavy bat."

With the weight of the injury off his mind, Tendulkar could once again essay his famous strokes like the back-footed cover drive, he said.

Charles Kerb, recommended by Chappell for being a member of the Indian team support staff, could don a key role when Tendulkar joins the side. Kerb specialises in kinesiology, that is a study of movements, of a sportsperson's body and the equipment he uses.

A fully fit Tendulkar would add much to the Indian side. Says chairman of the National selection panel Kiran More, "We would like to pick Tendulkar tomorrow, but when he comes back it has to be the decision he takes with his doctor and physio."

Tendulkar's form and his methods will be in sharp focus when he returns. His meeting with Chappell will also be watched with great interest.

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