SYDNEY, July 12: Australian Test cricket captain Steve Waugh has said he would like to retire at the end of Australia’s tour of India in 2004.

Waugh told Press Trust of India in Sydney: “I would like to end my career in India.” He has long described India as the “final frontier” for Australian team to conquer, and swore after Australia’s defeat in 2001 that he would be back to set the record straight.

That is not, however, reason for Khaled Mahmud and his boys to relax - Waugh has not forgotten Bangladesh. “The India series is still a long way off,” Waugh said, “and I am focussing on Bangladesh at the moment.” One can imagine him rubbing his hands in glee as he says this.

“We are soon going to start another school for 200 needy children,” Waugh added. He admitted that despite being a celebrity, raising funds was a difficult matter, and said “it would be good to get some funding from businesses in Australia and India”.

Waugh had recently announced plans to make a film based on Udayan, which has already been scripted, though, as of now, there is no director or producer.—PPI