Tendulkar to miss NatWest Challenge

Sachin Tendulkar will miss India's three-match series against England, an effective warm-up for the two teams ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy, starting tomorrow, as he is still suffering from a tennis elbow.

The master batsman underwent fitness tests yesterday, which unfortunately for India didn't determine any significant improvement to allow him to return to action, after having also missed the previous tournament, the Videocon Cup in Holland, because of the same injury.

Tendulkar, however, according to the team management, should be back to match fitness in a week, and as a result is not expected to miss the Champions Trophy. His next fitness test is scheduled for September 5, by the time for which he is most likely to recover.

India has refrained from naming a replacement for Tendulkar, and thus will go one player short in the squad for the series. There had been speculation that left-handed batsman Dinesh Mongia, who's already in England playing for Lancashire county, could be drafted into the side. However, the team manager, Gautam Dasgupta has confirmed that no replacement has been sought, at least for the time being.

Dasgupta also confirmed that Ajit Agarkar has recovered completely from the side-strain he suffered during the Holland tournament, and as a result wouldn't miss any action.

Posted by Sudeep