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| May 16, 2006 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1427 |
Tendulkar to try out shoulder for Tests
MUMBAI, May 15: India batsman Sachin Tendulkar will test his injured shoulder by batting at the Pace Foundation from Tuesday. Tendulkar, who faces a fitness test next week in Mumbai to determine his availability for the Test series in West Indies in June, will begin training at the facility in Chennai from Monday, but is only expected to bat the following day.
“Tendulkar likes the pitches here as the ball comes onto the bat,” T.A. Sekar, head coach of the Foundation, said on Monday.
“He wants to check if his shoulder is jarring,” the former national selector added.
The national selection committee will meet on May 24 to pick the Test team for West Indies. Tendulkar is expected to take a fitness test on either May 20 or May 22, according to Indian board's secretary Niranjan Shah.
The 33-year-old batsman has not played since the final Test defeat against England at his home ground in mid-March, after which he had surgery on his shoulder.
Tendulkar has been ruled out of the five-match one-day series in West Indies that starts on May 18, but harbours hopes of staging a comeback for the subsequent four-Test series starting on June 2.
India's most capped Test player returned to the nets last Wednesday, spending about 20 minutes facing cricket ball throw-ins.
Former Indian team physiotherapist Andrew Leipus will test Tendulkar in the absence of John Gloster, who is currently with the team in West Indies.
“Gloster has spoken with Leipus, and since Leipus is currently in India we decided to use his services,” Shah said.
The shoulder injury is the latest in a series of setbacks for the batsman in the last six years, which have mainly been attributed to wear and tear of constant cricket since Tendulkar began his India career as a 16-year-old in 1989.
He was also sidelined for six months last year after needing surgery to rectify a tennis elbow injury.
Tendulkar holds the world record for most Test and one-day hundreds and one-day aggregate. —Reuters
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