SACHIN Tendulkar was a relaxed figure as he sipped on two cups of tea and chowed down biscuits in the bowels of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday evening.
Tendulkar, 35, was there with fast bowlers Shanth Sreesanth, who is unlikely to play against Australia this month, and Zaheer Khan.
An indoor training session had long finished, yet Tendulkar stayed around the nets like a young boy who can't get enough of the game.
Like the young boy he once was who would play one match in the morning and then hop on a rickshaw and head to another in the afternoon.
After the chat with Sreesanth and Zaheer ended, Tendulkar was approached for an interview by the Herald Sun but politely declined.
"I am just focusing on my cricket at the moment. I will talk at some stage," he said with a cheeky smile.
Despite 150 Tests and almost 20 years of standing under a fierce sun, Tendulkar still has the boyish looks of a teenager.
But as laid-back as he was and as young as he looks, the pressure and years of toil have started to take their toll.
Physically, an ongoing tennis elbow injury could flare at any moment. A groin injury forced him out of two Tests against South Africa in April.
Mentally, he now skips some one-day series to stay fresh, perhaps to will himself to the 2011 World Cup in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where he would turn 38.
Teammate Sourav Ganguly has announced this will be his final series, and V. V. S. Laxman has been batting in the nets with the purpose of a man knowing his head could be next on the chopping block.
What to do with Tendulkar is a delicate issue, although the Board of Control for Cricket in India wants to ensure Tendulkar and his fellow seniors are eased out with dignity.
There are growing murmurings, however, that he refuses to retire because several of his contracts are tied to him playing on. The Ferrari-driving Tendulkar is arguably the richest cricketer to have played the game, but the almighty dollar can be hard to give up.
Tendulkar is safe for this four-Test series against Australia, and the country will ride every run with him as he pursues the 77 he needs to pass Brian Lara as Test cricket's leading run-scorer.
Tendulkar had hoped to have already pocketed the title, but a mid-year stumble in Sri Lanka - he made only 95 runs in the three Tests - wrecked that aim.
However, the Little Master has had a strong calendar year with 511 runs at 42.58, and in Australia last summer scored 493 runs at 70.42.
He still averages a superb 54.23 in Tests, although that figure masks a modest second innings average of 40.60.
When India has batted fourth, that figure slips to 33.12, suggesting when the pressure has really been on, whether in sight of victory or holding on for a draw, Tendulkar has too often failed.
Tendulkar this week found support from Sir Vivian Richards and Glenn McGrath, who loved taking his wicket.
"I know he is coming towards the end of his career, but I think he has earned the right to decide when he runs out of the urge to play," McGrath said in Indian magazine The Week.
McGrath couldn't have scripted his finish better with an Ashes whitewash and a third World Cup.
Tendulkar also deserves a fitting send-off.
But will he know when to pull up stumps, like McGrath, or bow out angry and disgruntled like fellow greats Richards and Allan Border?
Let's hope his flashy smile is on show when that day comes.
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