Tendulkar's elbow is fans' woe

Before the star Indian batsman suffered from it, tennis elbow was commonly held as an injury afflicting only tennis players.

Before star Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar suffered from it, tennis elbow was commonly considered an injury afflicting only tennis players.

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Tendulkar's exalted stature changed it all as his elbow has been a topic of animated discussion since last August when the injury laid the master batsman low and restricted his appearances in international cricket.

Indian media flooded cricket followers with expert opinions on the causes and duration of the injury, because it was not the elbow of an ordinary batsman.

Tendulkar had to skip three major one-day tournaments and two home Tests against Australia in the last six months, leaving millions of fans praying for his speedy recovery.

An Indian team without Tendulkar has become unthinkable ever since the 'Little Genius' made his Test debut aged 16 against Pakistan in 1989.

He is the backbone of the Indian batting, having already made 9,879 runs in 120 Tests with 34 centuries and 13,497 runs in 342 one-dayers with a world record 37 hundreds.

Tendulkar is the fifth highest run-getter in Test cricket, behind only Australians Allan Border and Steve Waugh, compatriot Sunil Gavaskar and West Indian Brian Lara who all have completed 10,000 runs.

But the 31-year-old has been grabbing headlines in recent months as much for his injury as for his batting.

When he hammered a double-century in Bangladesh last December to equal Gavaskar's world mark of 34 Test hundreds, many believed that he had recovered from the injury and returned to his big-scoring ways.

Alas, it turned out to be a false dawn as the champion batsman was again advised rest for six weeks since he appeared to have aggravated the injury after the Bangladesh series.

Former England batting great Geoff Boycott believed Tendulkar should skip the Pakistan series if he has not recovered fully.