Some days ago, at a Bangladesh team meeting, one of their star batsmen couldn’t hold it any longer. Finally, he blurted out: without Anil Kumble, this is not quite really the Indian attack that we had been talking about.

See, even the Bangladeshis are talking about it now. Obviously, they know that if Kumble had been fit and around in Chittagong, their ninth-wicket party might have ended long before it actually did, opening the door to an embarrassing follow-on, and definite defeat.

Today, Kumble, still “very weak” from the flu-like fever that has been dragging him down over the last four days, lifted himself up to practise with his team. But, only barely. He bowled for over 30 minutes, bending down to clutch his back in between, then going down on his haunches.

“But I am ready to play, I can,” he said, dragging his kit bag to the main ground, stopping for a few minutes to check out a table at a furniture shop on the way, smiling weakly at the “Bangladesh teak” tag.

Tomorrow, we will know. Whether Kumble can do some real serious checking out, of some local wood of a different kind, in the stifling, sweaty cauldron called the Sher-e-Bangla stadium. His body is not quite there, but the mind is relaxed, especially with his five-year-old son around, brightening up the formal reception hosted by the Bangladesh board last night.

But yes, tomorrow, we will know. If the rains that lashed Dhaka this evening allow, we will know whether India can win the second Test, lift this series from the soggy farce that it’s fast turning out to be? We will know whether India still need Anil Kumble to win a Test for them, even now, 514 wickets and 114 Tests later.

... contd.