Viral fever strikes Tendulkar, Dravid and Shoaib Akhtar

Sachin Tendulkar's season has got off to a tentative start because of his health problems, with viral fever following a tennis elbow © AFP

Sachin Tendulkar will not have fond memories of this tour of Holland. After suffering a tennis elbow and seeing his team get knocked out of the tournament, he is now down with a viral fever so acute that he is barely able to speak. Keeping him company in illness are Rahul Dravid and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, reports Press Trust of India.

Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, meanwhile, have recovered from their viral fever, and went shopping and sightseeing with the rest of the Indian team in Amsterdam. Dravid and Tendulkar, however, were confined to their rooms, with Andrew Leipus, the Indian team's physiotherapist, looking after them.

It hasn't yet been confirmed if Shoaib will miss the Videocon Cup final against Australia on August 28, or if there is a chance that Dravid or Tendulkar might not recover by September 1, when India take on England in the first match of the NatWest Challenge.