Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar will be available for India’s upcoming Test series against Australia despite racing against time to be fit, an official said yesterday.
Tendulkar opted out of a five-day trial match starting in Vadodara tomorrow after being advised to take a week’s rest to recover from an elbow injury sustained during the recent Sri Lanka tour.
The news sent shockwaves across India, but cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah denied media reports that Tendulkar could miss the four-Test series against the world champions starting on Oct. 9.
“The physiotherapist wants him to take another week off as a precautionary measure, but he will certainly be available for the Test matches,” Shah told reporters.
Tendulkar, a veteran of 150 Tests, needs 77 runs to overtake retired West Indian Brian Lara’s record tally of 11,953 runs and become Test cricket’s highest run-getter. He is hoping to make amends for a poor series in Sri Lanka, where his highest score was 31 in three Tests which the hosts won 2-1.
The world’s most senior cricketer, who made his Test debut in 1989, has been plagued by a spate of injuries in recent times and underwent corrective surgery on his left elbow in 2005.
Tendulkar injured the elbow again while attempting to take a catch in the third Test in Sri Lanka last month and missed the subsequent one-day series.
The Australian team arrived in India yesterday, setting aside security worries following deadly bomb blasts in the country and in neighboring Pakistan.
The squad will spend the next week training in Jaipur before flying to Hyderabad for a match against the Indian board president’s XI.
That will be Australia’s only warm-up before the first Test in Bangalore.
The tour had been placed in doubt after five coordinated bomb blasts ripped through crowded markets in New Delhi on Sept. 13, killing more than 20 people.
Ponting admitted security concerns were on his mind before the team left Australia.
“I’ve done it all day today, I’ve had a lot of discussions with my wife about those exact issues,” Ponting said in Sydney on Sunday. “Our advice was not to go to Pakistan and the advice that we received the last few weeks to tour India has been positive.”
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