Thursday, May 29, 2008

Tendulkar to miss Bangladesh tri-series and Asia Cup

Sachin Tendulkar's groin hasn't healed completely...

Sachin Tendulkar will miss the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup that follows because he hasn't recovered fully from his groin injury.

The injury had forced Tendulkar to miss the second and third Tests against South Africa in April as well as the first half of the Mumbai Indians' campaign in the Indian Premier League.

"Tendulkar is not available for the tri-series as well as the Asia Cup on the advice of Mumbai Indians physiotherapist Nitin Patel," Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said. "He has not recovered sufficiently from the groin injury."

Tendulkar was instrumental in India winning the tri-series in Australia earlier this year, scoring an unbeaten 117 and 91 in the best-of-three finals. His IPL form, after missing Mumbai Indians' first seven games, hasn't been as good, with 188 runs at an average of 31.33 and strike-rate of 106.

Besides Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, the fast bowler, is likely to miss out owing to the recurrence of his ankle injury, which ruled him out of the recent Test series against South Africa. Zaheer took part in the IPL, picking up 13 wickets in 11 matches before succumbing to the injury.

India will travel to Bangladesh to compete in a tri-series also involving Pakistan between June 8 and 14. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan between June 24 and July 6.