Fit-looking Dhoni a chance to play

The contrast couldn't have been starker. MS Dhoni in a sleeveless top, bulging biceps in full view, flashy haircut, talking to everyone, joking around, bowling one moment, padded up the next, new-looking Spartan bats in hand. Wriddhiman Saha in a full-sleeved jersey, prim hair, keeping his own counsel, but still padded up. They stood next to each other as they waited their turns. The diminutive Saha looked smaller next to Dhoni while they talked briefly and then went to bat in adjacent nets. Unless India make the unprecedented decision to play Dhoni as a specialist batsman, only one of the two will play at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

For the best part of last month, since the squad was selected on November 10, Saha has been thinking he will play the first Test in Australia. That looks seriously doubtful now. Dhoni had been left out from the first Test to recover from a hairline crack on his right thumb. India did not want to risk aggravating the injury because the World Cup is near. However, the first Test Dhoni was to miss was to begin on December 4.

Now that Test has been rescheduled to December 9, has moved from the Gabba to the friendlier Adelaide Oval, and Dhoni has had five extra days to recover. He has come back looking fit. If you have watched India's training sessions regularly, but didn't know of Dhoni's injury, you wouldn't have guessed there was any doubt around Dhoni's participation in Adelaide.

In his first training session on this tour, about 24 hours after arriving in Australia, Dhoni did everything he does before any Test. He began by bowling a long spell of medium-pace, longer than he usually does, going round the wicket at times to simulate the left-arm quick's angle for his batsmen. He also banged in several bouncers. He bowled for almost as long as the top six batted, in sets of three - Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara first, followed by Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. Just before the second set got over, Dhoni stopped bowling. He put his pads on, and had a normal hit in the middle. He also spent a lot of time having one-on-one chats with Duncan Fletcher, Ravi Shastri, Kohli and Pujara.

A player with a thumb injury can't bat or bowl for so long. All signs point to Dhoni being fit for the Test, though the team remained secretive, as it usually does with any fitness issues. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, for example, has not been taking part in any training for a whole week, but the team had been maintaining nobody was unfit until revealing an injury two days before the Test. Same is the case with Dhoni now.

We might not know until the toss whether Dhoni will play, but there are enough arguments to suggest he might not. If the original decision to rest him was a precautionary move, his appearing fit should not change things too much. Also, having arrived only on Saturday, has he had enough time to acclimatise, not having played a warm-up game? He did not take part in any wicketkeeping practice, but don't let that lead you: Dhoni hardly ever keeps in training sessions during a series.

Yet nothing is beyond Dhoni. He likes being in control of his side. He only rests when unavoidable. He has had five extra days to give his thumb and his tired body a rest. He might even sense an opportunity with the series beginning on the usually flat Adelaide pitch and with Australia at their most uncertain. Who addresses India's pre-match press conference on Monday has now become a matter of interest. Not because India say anything important in their press conferences, but because the captain usually attends a day before a Test.

It seems a long time ago that Kohli departed India as the captain for the first Test, talking about aggression, positivity and hope. The unfortunate events in Australia since India arrived might now bring to naught the build-up to Kohli's captaincy debut. The last time India came to Adelaide, Kohli proved to himself that he belonged by scoring his maiden Test century. It would have been nice symmetry had he made his captaincy debut here. To add to the symmetry, seeing Kohli through to that century was a little wicketkeeper who had come in as replacement for Dhoni, who had been banned for slow over-rate in Perth. It was also Saha's last Test.

On Friday, Shikhar Dhawan was asked how different it would be to play under Kohli, and he nearly put his foot in his mouth. "Virat is, of course, doing his first Test match now, if he going to do or not I don't know about that," Dhawan said. "He's a different captain than Dhoni bhai. He's more charged up, more aggressive."

And then he stopped, took a breath, and said, "Of course they both are aggressive in a different way. I enjoy playing under both." If Dhoni does play, we might never know what Dhawan was going to say before he stopped himself.