Sourav gets Sachin's helping hand

KOLKATA, May 5: Things haven't quite gone the way Sachin Tendulkar would have liked to over the past four days at the Eden Gardens, but he has always been around to lend a helping hand to anyone who has sought his expertise.
After treating an injured groundsman on Friday, it was Tendulkar's turn to help out his long-time opening partner in ODIs and former India captain Sourav Ganguly at the nets in the morning session on Saturday.There was a flurry of activity at the Eden Gardens as Rahul Dravid suffered an injury to his nose and was rushed to an ENT specialist.
As the media was preoccupied with Dravid's injury, the two other stalwarts of Indian cricket had a quiet session.
Ganguly and Tendulkar were batting in adjacent nets, with the practice bowlers going at them flat-out. It was around this time that Ganguly, who had been beaten a couple of times outside his offstump off deliveries that reared up from short of a good length, turned to Tendulkar for advice.
Tendulkar, who was having his first full-fledged net session after two days, stopped for a while and turned to his Team India colleague to help him out.
Tendulkar changed to a left-hander's stance and gave Ganguly a few tips. The southpaw listened to Tendulkar's tips intently and then asked Bengal pacer Sourav Sarkar to bowl a particular line and length.
As Ganguly got ready to face Sarkar, Tendulkar watched him closely for a few deliveries. Not happy with what he saw, Tendulkar again suggested a slight change.
The left-hander was quick to adapt much to the delight of 'coach' Tendulkar, who then resumed his net practice. Tendulkar, though, didn't bat on the main strip as that was hogged by the players in the One-day squad.
In the afternoon, Tendulkar preferred to spend more time with yoga expert Sukhdev Kumar, doing some freehand exercises rather than doing the fielding drills conducted by Robin Singh. Once that was over, Tendulkar joined his teammates in slip-catching practice, and he didn't look in any discomfort whatsoever.
"Sachin has recovered very well. Moreover, he will get 10 days in between to get fully fit for the Test series in Bangladesh," administrative manager Surendra Bhave said.