Kumble in; VVS, Yuvraj stay out

Today, Kumble, still “very weak” from the flu-like fever that has been dragging him down over the last four days, lifted himself up to practise with his team. But, only barely. He bowled for over 30 minutes, bending down to clutch his back in between, then going down on his haunches.

“But I am ready to play, I can,” he said, dragging his kit bag to the main ground, stopping for a few minutes to check out a table at a furniture shop on the way, smiling weakly at the “Bangladesh teak” tag.

Tomorrow, we will know. Whether Kumble can do some real serious checking out, of some local wood of a different kind, in the stifling, sweaty cauldron called the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. His body is not quite there, but the mind is relaxed, especially with his five-year-old son around, brightening up the formal reception hosted by the Bangladesh board last night.

But yes, tomorrow, we will know. If the rains that lashed Dhaka this evening allow, we will know whether India can win the second Test, lift this series from the soggy farce that it’s fast turning out to be? We will know whether India still need Anil Kumble to win a Test for them, even now, 514 wickets and 114 Tests later.

Till then, let’s just turn to that other hand that went up for Team India today, keeping alive a sombre tradition for debutants. That was young Ishant Sharma from Delhi, just six first class games behind him, obviously a bit nervous, stepping up to address his teammates at the pre-match meeting, ready to replace VRV Singh in the XI.

Straining to get off the blocks — he was put on standby and then stood down during the South Africa series — the tall, reed-like 18-year-old promised to make the best of this precious opportunity, promised to give it his all. But again, we will know tomorrow.

What we know, though, is that the team is “very, very keen” to wrap this game up, as convincingly as possible — manager Ravi Shastri spoke about it at the meeting, skipper Rahul Dravid too, and then Sachin Tendulkar spelt out how they need to go about it, by picking up their fielding first.

And what we also know is that VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh will sit out again, raising another question: why were they brought on this tour, at all, in the first place? Really, can India afford to have a batsman of Laxman’s calibre, a proven match-winner, visiting Bangladesh just as a tourist?

“Laxman has been picked as a middle order batsman. We felt that on this tour, especially in these conditions, we are very keen on playing five bowlers. So he is fighting for one of three slots, basically, in the middle order. Between myself, Sachin, Sourav, Laxman and Yuvraj, we are fighting for three spots. So it’s just unfortunate that both VVS and Yuvraj have had to miss out,” said Dravid.

Well, that doesn’t really answer the question, but Dravid quickly added, “It’s just the way it is, there’s not much we can do. It is not an easy decision for me, it never has been and never will be.”

Five bowlers, again, then — probably for the last time in the near future, with no genuine all-rounder, and the tough, England tour coming up in July.

Not that Bangladesh are thinking any differently. They have even pulled out a last-minute surprise by calling up another pacer to complicate the equation: Mohammad Sharif, 21, hoping to return to action after his last Test five years ago.

But will Habibul Bashar actually tinker with his familiar formula of Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain and those three nagging left-arm spinners? Now that, we will know tomorrow.

THE INDIA XII

Rahul Dravid (c), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Kaarthick, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar.