It's a beamer from hell that's caught Indian cricket fanatics completely unawares. The ominous question that stares us all in the face: how grave is Sachin Tendulkar's recurring back problem? Will the master batsman's spine hold up long enough not to cut short his tryst with the sport's unscaled pinnacles? It is a question that begs a medical answer-several mystified medicine men across the globe are currently engaged in untangling the knot-but its implications go far beyond Tendulkar's personal well-being. For on the answer the docs and the game's administrators find hinges the very future of Indian cricket.