If it comes to that, Anil Kumble will be a fine choice. He is a dignified man, his credentials are outstanding and his own cricket is aggressive. For some reasons bowlers are rarely considered on the premise that they might either underbowl or overbowl themselves. But bowlers are clever men, they know when it is not working for them and when it is; and unlike fast bowlers who need to graze awhile at long leg to gather their energy, spinners have no such concerns. Laxman, like Kumble, is a man of great integrity. A very gifted player who, you sense, is allowing petty arrows flung at him to bother him, this will be the recognition and the encouragement he needs. Like Kumble, he will not let India down and will consider it an honour.

The BCCI could do with that kind of news once in a while.

The writer is a well-known cricket commentator, whose weekly column ‘Talking Sport’ appears in the sports section