This is one place where wishing the Indian team by saying "Break a leg" is strictly forbidden. "Health Check" takes you into the hitherto-unexplored realms of Andrew Leipus and Adrian Le Roux. Keeping weekly tabs on the aches and pains, or hopefully lack thereof, of the Indian team, "Health Check" gives you the complete low-down on the fitness levels of the touring side.

Missing the master

It was not just the weather that was gloomy at the start of the fourth one-dayer between India and the West Indies at the Queen's Park Oval. For the Indians, there was gloom off the field too.

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First, they heard of Subhash Gupte's death. Then came news of Javagal Srinath's retirement from Test cricket. And finally, just a few hours before the match, they had to come to terms with the fact that Sachin Tendulkar would not be taking the field.

The little master had to miss the one-dayer because of bursitis, "a condition that creates friction between the tendons", as the Indian physio Andrew Leipus later explained. Though a minor problem, it causes great pain in the joints until cured.

Before the match, Leipus had been hoping that Tendulkar might be able to play on Saturday but things did not quite pan out the way he envisaged them to.

Without the guiding presence of the highest run-getter in one-day cricket, India crumbled to 123 all out after winning the toss and electing to bat in a 25-over-a-side game. In hindsight, if Tendulkar had played and opened the innings as had earlier been planned, his experience and mastery would probably have seen the Indians seal the series on Saturday itself.

Now, with their team desperate to notch a maiden one-day series win in the Caribbean, every Indian fan would be understandably be hoping is to see a fit Tendulkar play in the series decider on Sunday.

Leipus, however, is not willing to stick his neck out at this stage. "It's nothing serious, just one of those things," he said, while explaining Tendulkar's problem. "We were hoping he would be fit on Saturday. But it obviously did not heal enough for him to take the field. There's a 50-50 chance that he will play on Sunday."

"We are treating him right now. Let's hope for the best," he added.

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