Tendulkar decides against Middlesex Twenty20

Sachin Tendulkar has opted not to join Middlesex for this summer's domestic Twenty20 Cup, telling the county that the additional workload would place too much pressure on an already busy international schedule. It had been hoped that he would join Adam Gilchrist, who has already signed a contract with Middlesex, for the 2010 edition of the competition.

"We are all naturally extremely disappointed that Sachin has reached the decision not to join us this year, as without doubt, his presence within the Middlesex ranks alongside Adam Gilchrist would have been a major coup for the club," said Vinny Codrington, Middlesex CCC chief executive. "

"When the news initially broke that we were in negotiations with Sachin, it quite rightly created major headlines in all the sports pages, and it's a real shame we have been unable to reach a satisfactory outcome to our discussions with him. Sachin was very open and honest with us when advising us of his decision and he went to lengths to express how flattered he was that a club like Middlesex were so keen to have him on board.

"Whilst extremely keen to join the club, Sachin felt he wished to concentrate his efforts on prolonging his international career at the top of world cricket, and believed that the additional workload of playing Twenty20 cricket in the UK for Middlesex this year would place too much pressure on his already busy cricketing schedule."

Tendulkar, 36, also opted out of the tri-series in Bangladesh earlier this month in preparation for Test series against Bangladesh and South Africa. He gave up Twenty20 cricket at international level after just one match in 2006, but is captain of Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

"We would like to express our thanks to John Stephenson, MCC's Head of Cricket, for all his help, and we wish Sachin continued success with India and our thanks go to him for giving the Club every consideration," added Codrington.