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.

A turn for the worse

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When Harbhajan Singh took four wickets in the first innings of India's tour opener against the Guyana Board President's XI, Indian fans may have taken it as a sign of things to come. Visions of batsman after West Indian batsman struggling to cope with Harbhajan's doosra may have flooded minds all over the country.

But the off-spinner inopportunely pulled a right shoulder muscle during the course of the match and had to be flown to Trinidad for medical tests. Manager Goutam Dasgupta and physiotherapist Andrew Leipus were optimistic about Harbhajan's chances for the first Test, but the fact that Sarandeep Singh had been flown down to the Caribbean could not have painted too rosy a picture.

Concerns about fitness are being floated even otherwise; the last time India played a five-Test series was five years ago, again in the West Indies. Speedster Javagal Srinath is prone to breakdown, while possible back-up Ashish Nehra has just recovered from an injury himself and will be playing a Test after four months.

The batting woes, however, do not run too deep on the injury front for India. The top seven batsmen in the line-up against the Guyana BP XI all played in the recent home series against Zimbabwe. As much cannot be said about the West Indies, however; their star batsman, Brian Lara, will be playing Test cricket after a four-month hiatus caused by a dislocated elbow. His last series, however, was a scintillating one, and every Indian cricket fan worth his salt will be praying for Lara to score a century in India's win.

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