Tendulkar still in pain, says doctor

Top Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is still struggling with the foot injury that ruled him out of the current one-day tournament in Sri Lanka, his doctor said on Wednesday.

"It is too early to say anything about Sachin's fitness. I checked him on Monday. The pain has reduced but it has not gone," sports medicine specialist Dr Ananth Joshi said.

Joshi said he is due to conduct a second bone scan on the player next week.

"A repeat scan will show the healing process, whether it is reducing or progressing," he said, adding that the hairline fracture, which showed up during last month's tour of Zimbabwe, was unusual even for an athlete.

"It was during the take-off for a run after he hit a stroke that Sachin heard a pop and started getting pain in the toe," Joshi said.

On Tuesday, an Indian cricket official told Reuters that Tendulkar would be included in the squad for the test series in Sri Lanka starting later this month, even though he had not recovered from his injury.

Tendulkar has not missed a test since making his debut in the 1989-90 series in Pakistan.

Mail Cricket Editor