Tendulkar kept waiting for Lord's ton bid

India great Sachin Tendulkar will have to bide his time if he is to score his 100th international hundred in the first Test against England at Lord's after spending most of Sunday's fourth day off the field with a viral infection.

India great Sachin Tendulkar will have to bide his time if he is to score his 100th international hundred in the first Test against England at Lord's after spending most of Sunday's fourth day off the field with a viral infection.

The length of his absence means Tendulkar, dismised for 34 on Saturday, will have to wait until approximately 2pm local time or five second innings wickets have fallen on Monday's final day, whichever is the sooner, before he can at.

The delay could scupper Tendulkar's hopes both of scoring his 100th international hundred in this match -- his 51 in Tests and 48 in one-dayers are both records -- and his first Test century at Lord's where his top score in eight knocks to date is a modest 37.

Tendulkar, usually a number four batsman, returned for the start of Sunday's final session, having been off the field for more than four hours.

The 38-year-old played some trademark classic shots before he was caught at second slip by Graeme Swann off seam bowler Stuart Broad on Saturday.

India will resume Monday on 80 for one, needing a further 378 runs to reach their victory target of 458, which will be a new record if they achieve it, and go 1-0 up in this four-match series.

The highest fourth innings total to win a Test is the 418 for seven made by the West Indies against Australia in St John's, Antigua, in 2002/03.

India also had a fitness question mark over Gautam Gambhir who was injured fielding at short leg and did not open the batting when his team started their second innings.