India captain Rahul Dravid said he had no worries about Sachin Tendulkar leading into the Test series against England despite fears the batsman's form might be on the wane. There has been a feeling in recent years that Tendulkar, Test cricket's leading century-maker with 37 in 137 matches, is no longer quite the force he once was against the world's leading sides.
Although he will be going for a third hundred in as many Tests when the opening match of a three-Test series starts at Lord's on Thursday, the previous two centuries were against minnows Bangladesh. But Tendulkar, 34, warmed up for Lord's with 171 last weekend against England Lions, the national 'A side'.
"The standards he has set are so high that to expect him to maintain them all the time is not possible," Dravid, himself one of the world's leading batsmen, told reporters at Lord's here Wednesday.
"But he's going to come back as long as he enjoys the game and he loves it and that's what I see. The way he works, the way he practises, the way he's gone about his business on this tour, tells me he's enjoying his cricket. "He loves playing cricket. That's what you get to see with Sachin, the sheer joy you get of expressing your talent, playing with the best in the world in front of so many people.
"I don't think there should be any immediate concerns about Sachin or his form. He's in good enough form for us not to have any concerns at this stage," Dravid added. India haven't won a Test series in England since 1986 when they triumphed 2-0 in a three-match campaign.
But England, already without injured fast bowlers Stephen Harmison (hernia) and Andrew Flintoff (ankle), suffered another blow to their pace attack Wednesday when experienced swing specialist Matthew Hoggard was rated "extremely doubtful" Wednesday following a back spasm problem.
India are set to field two inexperienced quicks in Rudra Pratap Singh and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth but they will be bolstered by the likes of Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble.
"They're pretty evenly-matched sides," Dravid said of England, who earlier this season won a four-Test series against the West Indies 3-0, and India. "England have had a lot of success with the bat this summer against the West Indies. We've got a pretty formidable batting line-up and both sets of attacks are inexperienced.
"So it should be a good, even contest and it's really a challenge for both sets of bowlers to be able to take 20 wickets in the series." That could mean India dropping one of their gifted batsmen with Yuvraj Singh in danger of missing out while VVS Laxman keeps his place. Dravid added: "I guess that's been the case for a few years now, we've sometimes had to drop a quality batsman. But they understand what we have to do to win a Test match. "Laxman is in possession and I feel he is going to be a big factor for us in this series.
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