Tendulkar dismisses retirement talks

Champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar appeares to dismiss any chance of an early retirement from international cricket.

Champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday appeared to dismiss any chance of an early retirement from international cricket.

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When a scribe asked him about his retirement plans at a press conference in Mumbai, Tendulkar shot back "I think you got to be in some other press conference."

Tendulkar failed to make much of an impression with the bat in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka which also saw the other top batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman faring miserably.

Ganguly was subsequently dropped from the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy tie against Delhi, leaving a big question mark on his international career.

Plagued by injuries in recent times, Tendulkar skipped the one-day series against Sri Lanka due to a left elbow injury but has now recovered fully to be eligible for selection for the upcoming Test series against Australia beginning from October 9.

Tendulkar, who is within sniffing distance of overtaking West Indian great Brian Lara as Test cricket's highest run getter, pointed out that India have been the only team in the world to have run world champions Australia close of late in the latter's backyard.

"We have gone to Australia and beaten them. We have been able to surprise the Australian team and that's what the Australian public likes: competition and high standards of play. They love to see challenges and competitiveness", he added.