Fit-again Sachin shows the way

The final day's nets session in the preparatory camp for the Bangladesh tour was all about intensity. Not surprising, for it was the defeat to the tiny neighbour that set off a startling chain of events - India's early exit from the World Cup, a drop in the rankings, coach Greg Chappell's signing-off statements on the seniors' commitment, et al. The otherwise listless tour of Bangladesh has been thus upgraded to a happening one.

Sachin Tendulkar, who twisted his right ankle on the first day of the camp, had two long sessions with the bat and the way he went after the bowling - displaying flamboyant backfoot cover drives and some arrow-straight ones - was sign enough that he is recovering well. That could take some pressure off the Indian thinktank after skipper Rahul Dravid got a bloodied nose after being hit by a R.P. Singh bouncer on Saturday. The captain skipped nets on Sunday but manager Ravi Shastri's words were reassuring.

"You know Rahul. He is a tough cookie. He has been advised rest and his improvement is being monitored all the time," Shastri said after Sunday's only session in the morning, which lasted well over two hours. "I am sure he will be dying to face the first ball on the tour. He will be ready and we are ready. We will go out there and put our best foot forward," Shastri added. The team leaves for Bangladesh on Monday morning.

Tendulkar's deep involvement with his teammates was one big positive at the five-day camp. Sourav Ganguly got a few tips from the Little Master on Saturday and on Sunday, it was young Manoj Tiwary's turn. Immediately after the Bengal middle-order batsman finished his batting session, Tendulkar called him, pointed a few things out and showed him how to tackle the short-pitched stuff, emphasising that one must not take eyes off the ball. Tendulkar's playing the part of a batting mentor could go the distance in clearing the air over the reported senior-junior rivalry.

Ganguly batted after Tiwary and soon after, with Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni coming in, India's never-ending problems against the bouncing ball resurfaced. Yuvraj hurt his knee and even fell over once trying to tackle the likes of Vijaykumar Yomahesh, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh. Ganguly got a rising one from Zaheer Khan on his knuckles and a few words were exchanged while Dhoni simply cut a sorry figure.

But things changed the moment they shifted to the other net, where the spinners were bowling. Even though Yuvraj was almost castled when he misjudged the amount of turn on a Tiwary leg-break, shots started landing in the stands soon enough. Dinesh Karthik, who did not get a chance to showcase himself at the World Cup, joined the camp on Sunday after modifying his marital status earlier this week. He was the last man in at the nets and although most of the regular bowlers had packed up by then, the wicketkeeper-batsman made the net bowlers run at him overtime and looked in good touch.