Ticket sales soar because Sachin is fit

"See you at Nagpur," Sachin Tendulkar appears to be saying to his fans © AFP

Sachin Tendulkar's significance to Indian cricket comes not only from the manner in which he plays, but from the interest he arouses in fans. As soon as he announced that he was fit and intended to play in the third Test against Australia at Nagpur, ticket sales at the venue shot up dramatically.

"Sales suddenly tripled on Saturday," said an official of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, speaking to The Times of India. "While the maximum collection was Rs 3 lakh two days ago, today it fetched Rs 9 lakh [around US$20,000]."

His return was welcomed by the team management. John Wright, the coach, told reporters: "It's good to have Sachin back. It will be good for him also as he relishes playing Australia." When asked who would make way for Tendulkar's inclusion into the team, Wright was noncommittal, saying that the matter would be decided after Kiran More, the chief selector, arrived in Nagpur.

Meanwhile, Anant Joshi, the sports doctor who is the head of the Indian board's medical panel, said that Tendulkar could use the heavy bat he is accustomed to in the Nagpur Test. Tendulkar has been using a bat weighing 2.11 pounds for a while now, though he had once used a bat as heavy as 3.2 pounds. He has been practising with lighter bats since his injury, and there was speculation that the weight of his bat could have contributed to it. Joshi dismissed those rumours.

"I don't think the weight of the bat really matters in this case," he said. "Sachin can use his normal bat." He said that the weight of what one carries has nothing to do with the ailment, as even housewives, who do not carry heavy things, get tennis elbow.

It can take a long time to recover from the injury, and can even be career-threatening in the case of some athletes, but Joshi said that Tendulkar had recovered well. "Two days ago his condition was very good," said Joshi, "following which we decided that the load on his hand could be progressively increased and a final decision about his availability for the third Test was taken by team physio Andrew Leipus this morning.

"We played very safe as even before the Chennai Test he was in a position to play," Joshi continued, "but we did not allow him to take the risk and waited for some more time for complete recovery. Now we are sure that the problem is over.

"In some people it gets better in a week to ten days, in some cases it take months and in some cases it never gets better."