Sachin superstar and a World Cup dream

[vichu]

Sachin superstar and a World Cup dream

There are still twenty-four months to the next World Cup. Whether it will be held as schedule in South Asia, or elsewhere for security reasons, suggests there is still a long road to travel before those running the International Cricket Council make that decision.

Ideally, for millions living in a dream world, India will win the next World Cup with the Mercurial Mumbai wizard Sachin Tendulkar hitting the winning runs. Thus, the fabled final frontier that so many have written about over the years will be achieved.

However, as questions over World Cup security become a priority, there are also concerns for India of a more deeply personal nature that affects the fate of one player: how long can Tendulkar keep playing? It will be denied of course, yet there is the impression that his current state of fitness in New Zealand has been played down.

Reading the carefully phrased comments he used to describe the abdomen injury, it was enough to suggest that the blow received from an Iain O'Brien delivery that hit his abdomen grew more difficult to handle. Trying to concentrate and score runs at such a frenetic pace – 163 off 133 balls – has the unerring habit of disturbing even the strongest of minds.

Tendulkar will be a few days short of thirty-eight by the time the next World Cup begins, although the dates and venues after the opening ceremony in Dhaka are still a matter of decisions being made by the organising committee handling the event.

There are those who will point how Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, still an uncompromising and flamboyant strokemaker, turns forty on June 30. The only thing that might prevent him from playing his last World Cup aged forty-one, is a lack of form, or injury or both.

This of course depends on who is selecting the Sri Lankan side at the time. Big names in high places have in the past it is alleged, told the Sri Lankan selectors that he is not to be dropped.

In Tendulkar's case, it will be different. The selectors will no doubt hope that he will want to travel the road for a sixth and final World Cup and do a farewell tour, as it were, of South Asia, and make a final salute to his fans.

Tendulkar, however, also has a history of injuries that have down the years required surgery and kept him out of the side for lengthy periods. There has been the tennis elbow as well as shoulder problem. In such cases, India have had to make do without their iconic batsman.