Sachin Tendulkar will be available to play the entire duration of the upcoming Indian Premier League after returning from London where he has gone for a medical consultation for a toe injury, the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise team spokesman said.
"I can categorically say Sachin Tendulkar (captain of Mumbai Indians) is available for the entire duration of the IPL. He has gone to London just for consultation (about his toe injury) and is scheduled to be back on March 31. There is no question of any surgery," the spokesperson said, reports Times of India.
"He will also be there for the opening ceremony (on April 2) at Chennai and for the opening encounter (on April 4 against defending champions Chennai Super Kings)," the spokesman added.
The MI clarification came after it was learnt from a source in the Cricket Board that the return of the champion batsman, after his consultation in London with a specialist, was uncertain as even a surgery might be needed to put a question mark on his participation for the entire duration of the Twenty20 League.
"Yes, Sachin Tendulkar has gone to London for consultation about his toe injury. He has been playing with this injury for long. It is not sure when he will return as even a surgery may be needed to correct it," the BCCI source said earlier.
The Indian Premier League is all set to commence on April 4 in Chennai, where Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians, last year's runner-up will take on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings at the M A Chidambaram Stadium.
Tendulkar, who notched up his 100th international ton in the recently-concluded Asia Cup, did not attend the BCCI-organised felicitation function of the retired batsman Rahul Dravid last evening at a hotel near his residence, as he had already left for England.
The toe injury is a decade-old but it came back to haunt him and upset his plans to play the ODI series in England last September after a not-too-successful run in the four-Test series that preceded it.
The senior cricketer was withdrawn from the team sheet before the first ODI, which was washed out. And then the BCCI issued a statement, saying that Tendulkar had been ruled out of the series "due to a toe injury".
Tendulkar had consulted a specialist in London after suffering the injury and was advised four weeks' rest.
He came back to play the Test rubber against the West Indies at home after missing the Champions League Twenty 20, which was won by Mumbai Indians under the stand-in-skipper Harbhajan Singh.
But after playing the Test series against the Windies, Tendulkar again opted to rest for the ODI series.
He went to Australia with an advance party of senior players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dravid and VVS Laxman to get acclimatised to the conditions Down Under when the limited over series against the West Indies was in progress.
Tendulkar played the Test series in Australia and then stayed on to take part in the triangular ODI series before playing the Asia Cup in Bangladesh where he achieved the long-eluding milestone of 100 tons in international cricket.
He had addressed the media in a lengthy session last Sunday, got feted by MI's owners Mukesh and Nita Ambani at their residence the next evening before flying off to London.
"Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar will be joining the in-progress camp at Wankhede Stadium from 31st March 2012 and is fully available for the entire IPL season 5. Sachin is in UK to consult his doctor and will be back in India to join the camp from 31st March," a statement issued by Mumbai Indians said.
Showing posts with label Sachin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sachin. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Indian pride, Sachin quest add spice
India have five days at the Adelaide Oval to show some fighting spirit, restore a modicum of pride and avoid a whitewash in the fourth and final Test against Australia this week.
The tourists arrived Down Under ranked second in the world Test rankings with confidence high that their record of having never won a series on Australian soil might finally be banished.
Three humbling routs later and, starting on Tuesday, a squad containing some of the finest batsmen the game has seen will be reduced to scrapping for a face-saving victory against the fourth-ranked Australians.
They will have to do it without captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was banned for the Test because of his team's slow over rate in the third test in Perth, which the hosts won by an innings and 37 runs in two and a half days.
"Whatever backlash is happening in India, we have to accept it," opener Gautam Gambhir said this week.
"There was a lot of expectations from us that we should have done well with the kind of batting we have. We have let the entire nation down."
Sachin Tendulkar's continuing quest for his century of international centuries at least offers Indian fans the prospect of something to celebrate in the series.
The Adelaide Oval, one of Test cricket's most picturesque venues, would be a suitable setting for the milestone and is also likely to offer a suitably batting-friendly track.
"I'll be looking at a traditional Adelaide Oval pitch," head groundsman Damian Hough said this week.
"A little bit in it on day one for the quicks, then settling down on days two and three, and then offering a bit for the spinners on days four and five."
GREAT CHALLENGE
Australia are almost certain to drop one of the quartet of quicks who bowled them to victory in Perth to allow the recall of spinner Nathan Lyon.
Mitchell Starc, by his own admission, is most likely to carry the drinks leaving Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris to once again get stuck in to the Indian batsmen.
Lyon is looking forward to bowling against Tendulkar at a venue where a year ago he was cutting the grass as a member of the ground staff as Australia crashed to innings defeat in the Ashes series against England.
"India's a great side to play against. Even though we're up three-nil, we're expecting India to come out and hit us hard," he told reporters in Adelaide this week.
"They have just been a great challenge for myself, being a young spinner and bowling against the best batters against spin.
"Their hands are unbelievable and they're really confident against spin."
Lyon is possibly alone in his appreciation of the Indian batting in this series as the much vaunted line-up has failed to hit a single century between them.
Gambhir's opening partner Virender Sehwag will captain the side in Dhoni's absence, while Wriddhiman Saha is almost certain to play his second Test match as replacement wicketkeeper.
"Pressure is there but it's a positive," Saha said.
"There is no negative in it. There is only good positive pressure."
The tourists arrived Down Under ranked second in the world Test rankings with confidence high that their record of having never won a series on Australian soil might finally be banished.
Three humbling routs later and, starting on Tuesday, a squad containing some of the finest batsmen the game has seen will be reduced to scrapping for a face-saving victory against the fourth-ranked Australians.
They will have to do it without captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was banned for the Test because of his team's slow over rate in the third test in Perth, which the hosts won by an innings and 37 runs in two and a half days.
"Whatever backlash is happening in India, we have to accept it," opener Gautam Gambhir said this week.
"There was a lot of expectations from us that we should have done well with the kind of batting we have. We have let the entire nation down."
Sachin Tendulkar's continuing quest for his century of international centuries at least offers Indian fans the prospect of something to celebrate in the series.
The Adelaide Oval, one of Test cricket's most picturesque venues, would be a suitable setting for the milestone and is also likely to offer a suitably batting-friendly track.
"I'll be looking at a traditional Adelaide Oval pitch," head groundsman Damian Hough said this week.
"A little bit in it on day one for the quicks, then settling down on days two and three, and then offering a bit for the spinners on days four and five."
GREAT CHALLENGE
Australia are almost certain to drop one of the quartet of quicks who bowled them to victory in Perth to allow the recall of spinner Nathan Lyon.
Mitchell Starc, by his own admission, is most likely to carry the drinks leaving Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris to once again get stuck in to the Indian batsmen.
Lyon is looking forward to bowling against Tendulkar at a venue where a year ago he was cutting the grass as a member of the ground staff as Australia crashed to innings defeat in the Ashes series against England.
"India's a great side to play against. Even though we're up three-nil, we're expecting India to come out and hit us hard," he told reporters in Adelaide this week.
"They have just been a great challenge for myself, being a young spinner and bowling against the best batters against spin.
"Their hands are unbelievable and they're really confident against spin."
Lyon is possibly alone in his appreciation of the Indian batting in this series as the much vaunted line-up has failed to hit a single century between them.
Gambhir's opening partner Virender Sehwag will captain the side in Dhoni's absence, while Wriddhiman Saha is almost certain to play his second Test match as replacement wicketkeeper.
"Pressure is there but it's a positive," Saha said.
"There is no negative in it. There is only good positive pressure."
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