AS England found to their cost at Ahmedabad, Sachin Tendulkar is still the finest batsman on the planet and as he heads towards his 29th year - a time at which most cricketers are hoping to reach their peak - there is still a chance that he will confirm Sunil Gavaskar's forecast made eight years ago and score 15,000 Test runs.
But for Tendulkar England might have levelled the series; but for his brilliance in the first innings and his solid defence in the second their spinners might have planted the idea in the heads of the less adventurous Indian batsmen that this pitch was too testing for ordinary humans to survive.
Like all great players, Tendulkar gave his side hope, showed them that it was easy to combat a bowler in such good form as Ashley Giles, and that Richard Dawson was still a tyro.
What a pity then that the frightening accident which has overtaken Brian Lara means that the duel between the two giants - which might have flared into life again after Lara's extraordinary Test series in Sri Lanka - has been cut short.
I will confess to a preference for Lara's flamboyant shots rather than Tendulkar's classic strokes, but that is because I spotted Lara in 1990 when the rest of the world was still unaware of his presence.
In those days I did some work for one of the great cricketing newspapers, and in the middle of a Young West Indies game against the England touring side in Trinidad, I had to cover for Tony Lewis, England captain, sports journalist and broadcaster.
("You are to write your story anyway you please," Lewis told me. "But, I am sorry to say, my name will be on top of the copy." Ever eager to earn an extra dollar, I did as he asked. But communications seemed to break down somewhere and when the report appeared it had my name. That probably caused confusion among all his readers since I had written a line I was very proud to acknowledge. "It is good to see that Chris Lewis is performing so well and maintaining the old family name.")
When I rang the sports department to ask how much I should write I enthused about Lara. "Just a minute, Ted," said the voice at the other end. "Who is this Brian Lara?"
That sub-editor can hardly have asked that question when Lara and Marvan Atapattu collided with such devastating results in Kandy. How long Lara is out of the game remains to be seen.We must hope the effects leave him no more damaged than Len Hutton, who broke a wrist demonstrating gym work in his Army duties as a PT instructor. He had to change the whole of his game but came back to lay claim to his title as the world's finest opening batsman.
If Lara is back in time to make us relish the World Cup - now less than 15 months away - that will be good enough. By then Tendulkar will surely be at the height of his powers and possibly captain of India; and even if Lara is beginning to see the end of his days as an international cricketer he will still, we hope, be the blazing stroke player who tears attacks to shreds. Such a duel of the gods is worth a long wait. Be patient.
I saw the whole of Lara's 375 off England at St. Johns in 1994 and count it the greatest innings ever played. The pitch was benign but slow, the first two West Indies wickets fell in the opening half hour, the five England bowlers were all experienced Test performers - Angus Fraser, Chris Lewis, Andrew Caddick, Phil Tufnell and Graeme Hick - and he made only one mistake in 13 hours at the crease.
"I suppose," said Fraser, after Lara had edged the ball through the empty slips, "that I cannot say you are a lucky so-and-so when you've got 320 behind you, but you should be out." You can detect the admiration alongside that very English form of sledging.
Don Bradman was such a dominant force when he held the world record that I guess his 334 at Headingley in 1930 may have been more perfect than the Lara 375 but all comparisons ought to omit Bradman since he was Zeus among the cricketing gods. Hutton made his runs and Gary Sobers 365 against weakened attacks.
Besides I am prejudiced. I love watching Lara with that high backlift, that quick footwork; his strokes reminiscent of a scimitar not a rapier. When he completed his 501 he turned his back on the ball as he hit his cover drive and strode off to the pavilion long before it reached the boundary. That is style.
David Gower, whose judgement of classical offside strokes comes from his own prowess, watched Lara's 277 against Australia and reported: "It was just full of great shots." I rest my case. There cannot be any higher praise.
As I wrote a week ago, England might be the finest side in the world if only they had someone like Lara or Tendulkar but, of course, such batsmen are not delivered with the morning paper. They occur as often as snow at Christmas, a rarity in these days of global warming and we must be grateful that they are in competition with one another and that, through pride, or good luck, or sound advice, Lara has had a second wind. Any sports lover with a soul will be happy to pray for his full recovery.
Even without such a genius in their midst England's second team - without Graham Thorpe, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Robert Croft and with Ashley Giles who has not played for six months and Dawson who has been a first class cricketer for only six months - have performed miracles.
Two men deserve the medals. Nasser Hussain, pro-active, full of ideas, always trying to get his apprentice hands to try some new trick, has persuaded these young men that they can compete even though they are in a foreign land up against three of the finest batsmen in the world and two of the great spinners.
"Life may be tough here, and it may not feel like Doncaster, Durham or Dishwater-next-the-Sea but let's enjoy our cricket," he seems to be saying. "Let's have a laugh - mostly at the expense of our opponents." There is not too much fun in the Indian dressing room, but England have managed to conquer the fear of India that is instilled into every young county cricketer.
It is more difficult to assess the influence of Duncan Fletcher, a naturally reserved man who has drawn his players under a cloak away from prying eyes and kept his own counsel; but he seems to get the best out of so many lesser athletes that he must be doing something right.
Perhaps it is his Zimbabwe background. A team drawn from two districts and half a dozen clubs, they have always had to make the best of less talented players and no doubt Fletcher would ask if, in those circumstances, he really needed a Lara or a Tendulkar. Look what India and West Indies have achieved with these two amazing batsmen. Actually, not all that much, have they?
It is difficult not to admire the England spirit. Dawson takes two wickets including Tendulkar's with one of the finest deliveries of the match and laughs. Not just a quiet chuckle but a deep-throated guffaw as he walks to his bowling mark. He cannot wait to tackle the next mighty run-scorer.
Too many England players of the recent past have looked gloomy even when they have been winning; but two captains as introspective as Graham Gooch and Atherton - spanning a period from 1990 to 1998 - are ever likely to prefer inward-looking subordinates.
So the outlook is hopeful, the selectors have a problem that involves who should be left out rather than a desperate search to fill the breach. The way may be rocky but it is a straight road aimed towards success in the World Cup.
I have never been sure that cricket is truly a team game and the romantic me always hopes that great individual performances will come through. But that is the future of England until greatness is thrust upon them and in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2003 that may be enough.
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