India needs fit bowlers: Gilchrist

The team that will have its bowling line-up in shape and free of injuries will come out on top in the much-awaited battle between Australia and India, feels Australia's champion ex-cricketer Adam Gilchrist.
In India as the ambassador of the University of Wollongong, Gilchrist refrained from making any predictions but felt the bowlers' form and fitness may decide who ends up on top in the four-match Test series that begins on Boxing Day. "It's a series that's quite difficult to predict … evenly matched teams. Both more experienced in their batting line-ups than bowling line-ups,” said Gilchrist. “I think whichever bowling line-up settles the most and remains injury-free – that’s been a big issue for both countries with the amount of injuries to their bowling line-ups - will probably go a long way to win the series.

Gilchrist also added that none of the two teams start as favourites in the series.

The former Aussie wicketkeeper-batsman said that none of the two teams start as favourites in a series that begins on an even keel. "It's hard for me to separate the teams at the moment. But it will be great to watch. It's going to be an intriguing series."

On being quizzed about whether the Australians will feel happy to see the back of Harbhajan Singh, who has not been considered for the Test series, Gilchrist said Harbhajan would be missed. "I have always found Harbhajan a wonderful guy to play cricket against. His fighting qualities are admirable. He never takes a backward step. He will be missed in the series, but [Pragyan] Ojha and [Ravichandran] Ashwin have come in and set quite high standards in terms of results and have done a very good job in the bowling department."

Gilchrist - arguably the best wicketkeeper-batsman the game has ever seen - said the 2001 Test series between the two countries went a long way in making India and Australia the modern-day cricketing rivals. "In 2001, I don't remember a huge hype or intensity but that was one of the best Test series ever. I don't think anyone was aware of what was around the corner at the start of that series. So that was part of the contributing factor of what is now a terrific rivalry between the two countries."

Mahi faces threat from Maoists

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's security has been beefed up in Jharkhand following intelligence inputs on threats to him from the Maoists and terrorists, a police official said here Wednesday.

Dhoni arrived in Ranchi, his home town, last week with his wife Sakshi.

'We are not taking any chances. There are inputs of threat to Dhoni from the Maoists and terrorist groups. Based on the input we are taking appropriate measures to beef up the security of Dhoni,' a Ranchi-based police official, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

'We have received directives from the police headquarters to beef up Dhoni's security. Commandos of Jharkhand Armed Police will be deployed in his security,' the official said.

Security personnel in plain clothes have already been deployed near Dhoni's house in Harmu housing colony. They will move along with Dhoni within the state.

Top order needs to fire : Sehwag

India skipper Virender Sehwag criticised the top-order batsmen, including himself, after the defeat on Monday. "The total was OK to chase but we lost couple of early wickets with me and Gautam (Gambhir) getting out back-to-back in the second over. And after that we did not have a good partnership in the top order. If we lose early wickets it is difficult to chase," Sehwag said in the post-match press conference.

"We have to look at our top order. We have to click and fire. We have to give a good start as a team so that we can achieve any target or set any target for the West Indies in the coming games."

Sehwag said the 79 runs scored by West Indies towards the end of the innings did not make much of a difference. "The last five overs did not make much of a difference as they have good hitters and we were expecting them to fire in the series. They batted well, we tried everything, slow, back of length, good length, yorkers, but they connected everything," he said.

Man-of-the-Match Ravi Rampaul said the early breakthroughs were key to his side's triumph. "I would say it was getting early breakthroughs," said Rampaul when asked if that was the key point of the match or the whirlwind stand of 91 between captain Darren Sammy and Andre Russell.

Rampaul said he had learnt some important lessons on his visits to India with the Trinidad and Tobago squad for the Champions League. "My two visits for the Champions League have helped. The key to bowling on these pitches is to keep line and length, bowl wicket to wicket," he said.

Test specialists leave early for Down Under

The Test specialists of the Indian squad will leave early for Australia, even as the ODI team completes its home assignment against West Indies. A board official told that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha are likely to be on an early flight, the exact date for which is yet to be decided. They will leave either on December 8 or after the BCCI awards function on December 10. India's first tour game begins on December 15, eleven days prior to the Boxing Day Test.

Laxman, one of India's Tests-only players, welcomed the development. "Luckily for us we are going ahead this time, so we will get a lot of time and opportunity to get acclimatised to those conditions," Laxman told. "I firmly believe that how much ever simulation you do in India, it's always important to get to Australia and get used to the conditions. The net practices and training sessions will be very critical for us to get used to the conditions as early as possible.

"Personally, because of past experiences, you know if you do certain kind of drills it will help you to get used to the bounce. But it is not the same as actually batting there." Laxman, though, didn't know when exactly he will be flying and who he will be flying with.

Unlike India's last tour of Australia, when the team left immediately after completing a Test series against Pakistan, this schedule allows the Tests specialists more flexibility in their preparations. The last time, the BCCI attracted flak for arranging only one warm-up game; this time, India will be playing two warm-up games before they face Australia in the first Test in Melbourne.

Last year as well, the Test specialists left early for the tour of South Africa, while the ODI side played against New Zealand at home.

How ill is Yuvraj Singh?

In sickness and in health, Yuvraj Singh, tends to leave the nation in a spin. In the best of times, he makes India win the Cricket World Cup. In the worst of times, he ties the nation up in knots of tension. A shock announcement on November 26, that he is battling a tumour in his left lung, has sent a wave of visceral anxiety through the cricket-crazy country.

In an official statement his mother, Shabnam Singh, said: "Reports showed that Yuvraj was dealing with something really serious. A golf ball-sized lump was found over his left lung and doctors advised us to go in for more detailed scans." But India's most flamboyant cricketer tweeted with characteristic nonchalance: "Nothing serious, need to build up the lost stamina."

The missing pieces of a puzzle have finally come together. Clearly, medical reasons explain why Yuvraj has been in and out of Team India post World Cup, why he skipped the West Indies tour in June-July citing lung infection and why his performance in England in the July-September Test series was below par. It's in the face of the rising tide of public criticism and ridicule that his mother decided to go public, "without his approval".

According to his mother, the initial reports suggested that Yuvraj had "an abnormal tumour called lymphoma" over his left lung that could be malignant. After a detailed scan and biopsy, however, the reports indicated that the tumour was non-malignant.

But that has put the medical fraternity in a quandary. According to Dr Harit Chaturvedi, chief consultant and director of surgical oncology at Max Hospital, Delhi, "Lymphomas are by definition malignant." They stand for cancer of the lymph nodes, found primarily in the neck, between the lungs and the heart, in abdomen, armpit or groin. "Lymphoma happens due to excessive growth of the lymph glands," explains Dr Raja Dhar, consultant respiratory physician, Fortis Hospital, Kolkata. Of the two types of lymphomas-the less virulent Hodgkins and more aggressive non-Hodgkins-and various sub-types, some tumours grow more slowly than others and may not need to be treated. Both Chaturvedi and Dhar point out that lymphomas, typically treated with chemotherapy, are potentially serious conditions.

"It's not a lymphoma," Shabnam says, when contacted. "It's a soft tissue growth between the heart and the lung that was initially considered malignant and life-threatening." It all started during the World Cup this year, when Yuvraj went through several spells of intense coughing and vomiting. He was in excruciating pain, restless and suffered from shortness of breath, too. "We thought it was due to allergies, stress and sleeplessness. It's not easy carrying the expectations of a billion people," she says.

Yuvraj has had to go through a battery of scans, tests and biopsies in the last few months. The third biopsy in October shows benign growth, Shabnam explains. "He must have been discovered with some shadow in the X-ray," says Dr Arvind Kumar, professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The first step starts with a chest X-ray. The next step is a CT scan, to detect the exact location and extent of tumours. The scans enable doctors to make a rough prediction of malignancy or benignity. "But that depends to a large extent on the age of the patient, symptoms and character of the shadow," he adds.

Youth is in Yuvraj's favour. In a 50-year-old smoker of 30 years, the first diagnosis of a shadow is taken as cancer. For a 29-year-old non-smoker like Yuvraj, the chances are slim. "His symptoms and history also tell the same story," says Dr Rakesh Jalali, professor of neuro-oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. "He had been playing all along, despite the cough and other symptoms. I don't think he could keep doing that if it were a serious condition like lymphoma," he adds.

But why did Yuvraj need three biopsies? "Lung biopsy is a very tricky process," points out Kumar. Biopsy is the gold standard for deciding if a growth is cancerous or not. A piece of soft tissue is brought out from a growth and put under the microscope for final diagnosis. The most common method is the CT-guided biopsy, where a very thin needle is put in. "The 21 gauge needle that is normally used happens to be extremely thin. Often instead of tissue, just blood is drawn, necessitating repeat biopsies," says Kumar. If the tumour is too close to the windpipe, a special telescope with a camera has to be sent down the nose (bronchoscopy).

All the indicators point to a benign growth in Yuvraj's case. "It could be a sarcoidosis, tiny lumps of cells that grow and clump together due to lung infection," points out Chaturvedi. "Or even lung tuberculosis. Both can be treated by medicine." It could also be solitary pulmonary nodules, more than half of which are benign, caused mainly by old scars and infections. "There are a range of soft tissue growths that grow slowly in the lungs, do not have any symptoms and are cured completely if removed surgically," says Jalali.

Yuvraj couldn't believe it was happening to him initially, says his mother. But he refuses to give up. "His appetite is normal. He has home food, cooked in olive oil. He does his yoga, goes out to movies and tries to have as much fun as possible," she says. He still has his dream of becoming India's best Test cricketer to fulfil. And in moments of vulnerability, he has his gurujis, Sant Baba Ram Singhji and Ajit Singhji, to turn to. "I still have a lot of years to go, and I think these will be my best years." That's what he had told cricket website Cricinfo in June this year. His country looks forward to that future with him.