Caution! Batman returns to work

(##include msid=32254032,type=11##) NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar is back. Now, the milliondollar question: will his willow bite?All through Tendulkar''s15-year career, he has barely missed five Tests and two of them have been in thecurrent Test series against Australia.Needless to say, Australiahurt Team India in his absence by racing to a spectacular victory in the firstTest in Bangalore and was in with a fighting chance in the second Test inChennai when rain washed out the fifth and final day''s play. It could be arguedthat a victory target of above 200 runs was against India on a breaking pitchand Shane Warne in good nick.Now that the Master Blaster''s servicesare again available, an assessment of his form and fitness isimperative.Comebacks are not the easiest things to do. Most batsmenor bowlers making a comeback after injury or a ban run into the proverbial brickwall. Form proves elusive and can be discovered only after a huge amount of hardwork and an even longer time. Some, sadly, can''t make it. Incredible talent hasgone waste in this manner. The name of Tendulkar''s best friend and cricketerVinod Kambli comes to mind.Even a long lay off can ruin a player''sgame. Take for instance, the terrible form of the Nawab of Najafgarh, VirenderSehwag. The two-month break after India''s Pak tour (when among sundry otherachievements, he scored a triple century) seemed have taken a heavy toll onViru''s form as was evident during the Asia Cup, Videocon Cup, NatWest Series andthe Champions Cup. He was barely able to hold his bat upstraight.After what seemed like an eternity, he came good againstthe Aussies in the second Test where his mammoth 150 kept India in the match andensured that the Aussies did not race to a 2-0 victory in the series.The exception was Australian spinner Shane Warne. Coming off adoping ban in the Test against Sri Lanka in the sub-continent in spring of 2004,he took 20 wickets in the first two Tests (5-wkt haul in all 4 innings) and anoverall score of 26 wickets in three Tests. It''s even more creditable as he hadbadly injured his hand in the county circuit. It was doubtful whether he wouldbe able to play in the Test series against Lanka. He put all doubts to rest. Heupstaged the then world record holder in wickets taken Muttiah Muralitharan. Itwas a magnificent performance that gave Australia a royal whitewash against archfoes Lanka. The series ended in a 3-0 result.With these two recentexamples in mind what can we expect from the Little Genius?A lot! The manwith 9,470 runs to his credit; the man who has epitomised Indian cricket in thepast 15 years and put the legendary Sunil Gavaskar and the prodigiously giftedKapil Dev into the shade; the man whom the best teams and the fiercest bowlershave targeted mercilessly as the one factor between them and victory; the manwho has led the Indian challenge creditably through every battle; the man forwhom the bookies kept the bets in abeyance till the fate of his wicket wasdecided; the man on whom the billion-strong Indian public reposes its trust andhope must show that he still deserves the throne his enemies and well-wishershave put him on.The weight of expectations says Sachin Tendulkarcannot but perform well in the third Test against Australia. His teammates, thefans, and even his opponents expect thunder against the team from DownUnder.But, form and fitness be damned, this will be a psychologicalbarrier, on the lines of a Niagara Falls, that the super-batsman must negotiateto reveal the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow calledTendulkar.The surmise is based on the fact (aside from the smallmatter of his past record: Test average of 58) that he has negotiated bowlers inthe many practice sessions in Mumbai very well, albeit with a light bat. Butthen everyone and their aunt had said that Tendulkar can become an even morefiery prospect if he uses a lighter willow. Now that providence hasslashed the weight of his weapon, perhaps he can wield it with even moreauthority. Even if the balls that he thrashes don''t race to the boundary at thespeed of light, at least he can run three with greater alacrity. Even if hereduces the number of sixes to zero, perhaps the fours will flow with moreregularity. One innings. That is what Team India needs from him. Amatch-winning innings that will get India onto the driver''s seat to control thedestiny of the series from there.The rest can be done by the team toretain the Gavaskar-Border Trophy. Their resolve would have improved, theiraggression would have been better directed and their raw talent would betempered by the presence of the man who has egged India to the position of No 2team (arguably) in the world.But, this is cricket. And, the rivalsAustralia are the undisputed champions of the world in both Test and one-daycricket. They even have a new world champion in wickets taken (533), ShaneWarne.Does Sachin have the hunger (something that was questioned bythe great Sri Lankan former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga) to excel on his comebacktrail?On numerous occasions, Sachin has shown that his desire forruns does not run out. He virtually lusts after runs, he chases after them withgreater vigour than the most amorous teenager seeking his first love.He has scrounged for runs, he has blasted runs, he has gallopedtowards runs. Runs, runs, runs is what he most relishes. Runs are the elixir oflife that have kept Tendulkar asking for more and gave him the position of theforemost batsman in world cricket even into his second decade. There is no oneelse in world cricket, barring Brian Lara, who has chased runs the way Tendulkarhas done. Has his appetite sated? Oh, pleeease! The man is arun-machine who will drop his bat only when he can no longer hold it up. Hiswill and desire to ravish the bowling is second to none. His diminutive presencebecomes that much more overpowering because of his rapacity for more.When, and if, Sachin performs at par, he will have ensured that hegoes down in the pantheon of Indian cricket as the greatest of them all. Therewould be no stopping his being canonized in this cricket-crazy country. Not onlywould he restore trust in Team India (sadly lacking due to itsnon-performances), but also would give the team, fighting with its back to thewall in the series, an opportunity to go on the attack. And, thereis no blitzkrieg on a par with the one that has Sachin Tendulkar as itsspearhead.