14 February 2005	Monday	04 Muharram 1426

MUMBAI, Feb 13: The big worry emerging after India's NKP Salve Challenger Trophy is whether Indian pace machine will be in top gear for the series against Pakistan.

In less than a fortnight Inzamamul Haq & Co will be here and news is not very good on Indian fast-bowling front. Two of India's young fast bowlers - Irfan Pathan and L Balaji - are still struggling to recover from injury lay-offs.

Zaheer Khan was lone man standing at Wankhede Stadium, best (and fittest) bowler of the tournament. "It was great to see Zack in full steam," admitted Rahul Dravid, captain of India 'A' who'd walked away with honours.

However, while Zaheer gave Indian hopes some impetus, last-minute pullout of Pathan from the series caused ripples of concern. Pathan, a key component of Indian challenge, has been rested due to persisting stiffness post-training. He is in Mumbai undergoing rehabilitation under watchful eye of new physio John Gloster.

Selectors and coach are quite confident that left-arm bowler will be back by Duleep Trophy match scheduled for Feb 15. After a six-month lay-off, Balaji's form was scratchy, but he showed signs of improvement during the series.

"He bowled well," said Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who rolled his arm over a fair bit as well. "He's coming back after six months. I'm sure he'll improve as he gets more match fit through Duleep Trophy games."

Match fitness clearly seems to be remedy. Is there enough medicine in pipeline?

"I have been talking to John (Wright) about this. Three matches are good enough - two Duleep Trophy games each as well as one side game," said Kiran More, chairman of selectors.

"Since those are four-day games, they'll get substantial bowling. They can even play local matches and tournaments. It is critical for Balaji and Pathan to get that confidence before the tour."

He also said that fitness of Zaheer, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar was heartening. Chances are, efforts of young Rudra Pratap Singh wouldn't have gone unnoticed either to all five selectors who were here for four-day event. -PPI