India’s cricket selectors want Sachin Tendulkar so badly that they will go to any length to have the master batsman back at the crease.
The five selectors, headed by former Test stumper Kiran More, have provisionally included Tendulkar in the squad for next month’s two Test matches in Zimbabwe even before the batsman has begun training after elbow surgery.
Tendulkar, who has not even started batting at the nets, refused to predict if he will be ready for the first Test against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo from September 13.
”I have to take it step by step, I just can’t just go and start playing,” Tendulkar (32) said after a brief hit-out with a light synthetic ball in his home city of Mumbai.
”I would like to go [to Zimbabwe], but the final decision on whether I will play or not is the doctor’s.”
The selectors are not to blame. With India floundering on the field, not having the most prolific batsmen in contemporary cricket in the team is painful.
”You can’t substitute a Sachin,” said More. ”I don’t care if he has not played cricket for some time.
”The moment he confirms he is fit to play, we will rush him wherever the Indian team is.”
The tennis elbow injury, sustained 12 months ago while preparing for a one-day tournament in The Netherlands, has interrupted Tendulkar’s career and severely dented India’s prospects.
Unable to lift even a cup of tea, Tendulkar missed the Champions Trophy in England in September and the first two home Tests against world champions Australia in October.
He returned for the remaining two Tests of the series and played further matches against South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan before the season ended in April.
Tendulkar, however, had not realised then that coming back so soon after the injury would cause a tendon tear and require surgery to remove the dead tissues in the elbow.
”I do not think I rushed my comeback last year,” he insists. ”I did not need surgery then. I had the operation in May because of the tendon tear and this will obviously take longer to heal.
”I played in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa with an injured finger. I was just eager to play. Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it does not.”
Tendulkar, however, is not taking any chances now, even if the prospect of playing a lowly side like Zimbabwe is tempting.
”A long-term plan is more important, so I will not be worried if it takes a couple of weeks more,” said the batsman with a record 23 776 international runs and 72 centuries against his name.
”I will know how much impact my elbow is going to take only when I practise more. Frankly, it is too early to say when I will be back.”
The wear and tear of 16 years in international cricket has begun to take its toll, but a fully fit and recharged Tendulkar is just what India and world cricket needs.
Hopefully, the appetite for runs has not dried up.
Tendulkar, who has spent half his life playing for India — he made his Test debut in 1989 aged 16 — has 10 134 runs from 123 matches and needs just one more century to break compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record of 34.
Tendulkar is already the most successful one-day batsman in history with 13 642 runs from 348 matches, and 38 hundreds.
India, ranked third in the official Test rankings but lying a disappointing seventh in one-dayers, can’t wait to have Tendulkar back in a gruelling season that includes 16 Tests and a minimum of 38 one-dayers till next June. — Sapa-AFP