The Delhiite, who has virtually shifted base to Mumbai, believes he has another three-four years of squash in him, at least. He looks fitter, believes his current flexibility makes his past self seem a joke, and attributes it to the serious yoga sessions under Bandra-specialist Mr Vinayak. “Squash is all that I want to do,” he says, and taking up the challenge thrown by Saurav Ghosal is something he’s enjoying.

“It’s not been a great year at all,” he says of his indifferent season. “Post-injury, sometimes the game cracks apart, but when it comes together, it’s very effective.” The man’s clearly enjoying the struggle — the climb up from rank 79 and the three lacklustre nationals, where he’s gone without the title.

Bhattacharya was around when Ghosal picked his career-best win at France, and says, “If not me, it was good that the winner was another Indian. He’s playing better than anyone else in India, and alongwith Sidharth Suchde, they’ve raised the bar in Indian squash. It’s exciting now that I’m not being chased, but doing the chasing.”