Friday, July 5, 2002 Runs from Sachin Tendulkar are a predictable pleasure, especially against a Sri Lankan attack that is shorn of confidence and an English line-up that will never gain confidence until the selectors abandon their chop-and-change policy. But the biggest pleasures in life are the ones that you least expect, which means that Indian fans must be the most satisfied at this stage of the NatWest Series.

It is not that we ever doubted the talents of Yuvraj Singh or Mohammad Kaif. Both excelled in junior cricket, and Yuvraj was one of the stars of the ICC Knockout tournament in Nairobi two years ago. It is just that so many talented batsmen from India, and other Asian countries, have shone early on but failed to carry it through, that we dared not build our hopes.

There is nothing more thrilling in sport than watching young pretenders stake a claim for greatness, with fresh legs and an innocent enthusiasm. Ronaldinho added this magical ingredient to Brazil's World Cup victory. Now Yuvraj, in particular, is doing the same for India and threatening to blow England away in the process.

Yuvraj's second coming could not have been better timed. India's batting order has long been suspect beyond its illustrious top five, and even those batting masters would not win awards for consistency. Sachin has had to shoulder too much of the burden, as well as fight his natural instinct to dismiss every single delivery from his imperious presence.

Now with Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj vying for brilliance, and Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly threatening consistency, India look to have got their team half-right for next year's World Cup, with enough time to develop an understanding that will see off most opponents.

India's main weakness, however, remains their bowling attack, and this is where the top teams will make them suffer. The most likely winners of next year's World Cup will boast matchwinning bowlers, but it might just be an attack that recognises its limitations and stifles the opposition. India's bowlers look undecided about which camp to fall into, when it is clear that they are stranglers not incisors. In 1983, Kapil Dev's side showed exactly how it should be done.

For now, Yuvraj's interventions have separated India from the other competitors in this tournament, and Sachin will need that support to continue if India are too win out in the end. At least, India have done enough to show that there is more to their batting than their holy trinity. But they will need their bowling and their traditional final day nerves to hold together as well.

Win or lose, Yuvraj has proven himself again, and this should be the last time he is asked to do it.

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Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal.

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