Rahul Dravid is not the only one down with illness. A few players from the Sri Lankan squad too are struggling to regain fitness in time for the third Test in Ahmedabad, starting on Sunday.
The Sri Lankan pace bowling duo of Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando are down with fever and missed practice on Saturday.
"I spoke to Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody and we both agreed that we would struggle to field 11 players in both the teams. Maybe, we will have to play a ten-a-side match," India's coach Greg Chappell joked as he spoke with news persons in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Dravid looks certain to miss the Test after being admitted to a local hospital following a bout of gastroenteritis.
"We will love him to play; we are hopeful that he will be able to play tomorrow. He was good last night when I spoke to him, but after that he fell ill and was hospitalised," said Chappell, who refused to answer questions pertaining to the selection issue, obviously aware of the fact that he would be hounded with questions relating to Sourav Ganguly's exclusion.
He also paid tribute to veteran leg spinner Anil Kumble, who will play his 100th Test tomorrow. Incidentally, Sunil Gavaskar had registered his 10,000th Test run at this ground, while Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test double century here.
"Kumble is one of the great bowlers around. He is a very underrated bowler. He has terrific control... you could see that in the second Test at Delhi, where he hardly bowled any loose deliveries."
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He feels that the Motera wicket is similar to the wicket at Delhi and added "patience will be very important here"
"The wicket looks good and I expect some runs to be scored here," he said.
Chappell also gave his first hand impression on Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer, recalled to the Indian team after a gap of nearly three years.
"Jaffer looks good. I haven't seen him before and this was the first time I saw him. He has a simple method, very uncomplicated technique."
On whether Jaffer would play the Test,he replied: "I am not yet sure about his chances of playing the Test. I will sit with Kiran More tomorrow morning and the final eleven will be named then."
Left-hander Gautam Gambhir has struggled in the series, but Chappell believes that every player goes through a lean patch in his career.
"We learn a lot from the lean patch; it makes us more mature. Gambhir has played well recently, done well in the one-dayers and I am sure he will bounce back. I would like to think that he will play tomorrow," Chappell said.
The Indian coach also thinks Muttiah Muralitharan would continue to be a threat for the Indian batting line-up, even though he failed to make an impression in the second innings at Delhi.
"We were a bit more positive in the second innings against Murali. After the first innings we decided that we would take the game to him and it seemed to affect him," Chappell said.
The Indian coach also had a word of praise for his captain, who, he feels, took a brave decision to open the innings in the second Test.
"We were a opener short after Sehwag was ruled out, but Rahul took a courageous decision to open the innings. Equally courageous was his decision to bat lower order in the second innings on a difficult pitch," Chappell said.
He also did not rule changes in the batting order, like the promotion of Irfan Pathan to open the innings in the second Test.
"It depends on the circumstances and conditions. Pathan was struggling down the order, so we thought he would do well at the top of the order with the ball coming on to the bat."
