Sachin Tendulkar’s healed groin injury promises to add a spring to the Indian Premier League that anyway was happily prancing across the country. As the Mumbai Indian captain confirmed his availability for Wednesday’s game against the Chennai Super Kings, IPL’s bowling fraternity, already reeling under the onslaught of marauding batsmen, had one more reason to get sweaty palmed.

And in case they feel they have a chance to catch Tendulkar off guard because of his long lay off, it would be a case of living in fool’s paradise. Watching Tendulkar at nets today and a quick check of his past comeback matches might give the bowlers sleepless nights. At the Wankhede Stadium today, Tendulkar gradually changed gears. He started with a few pushes, moved to polish his trademark punch and later indulged in some big hits.

As the ball repeatedly hit the sweet spot, the welcome ‘thud’ from Tendulkar’s bat might have worked wonders for the Mumbai Indians team that is clawing back into semi-final contention after an abysmal opening in the league.

Tendulkar was a focused man during practice. As he came on to bat, he wasn’t quite happy with the dusty practice pitch. He called the groundstaff, asked them to sprinkle water and got the surface rolled. Satisfied that the track was true, he started his slow drives and the ‘thuds’ began to echo at the empty Wankhede Stadium.

But what are the chances of Tendulkar repeating those ‘thuds’ against MS Dhoni’s team on Wednesday? Going by statistics, the probability is high. In 2005, Tendulkar missed tours to Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the Super Series in Australia because of a tennis elbow. He returned for the Lanka series at home with a 96-ball-93 in the opening game. Next year, after staying home during the West Indies tour, he returned for the tri-series in Malaysia. This time it was 141 from 146 balls. At Kuala Lumpur, as Tendulkar snubbed his ‘Endulkar’ critics, he was asked if he had a habit of making a point by scoring big post-rehab and he had smiled and said, “Yes, you can say that.”

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