Missing Windies tour hampering Sachin now: Gavaskar

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Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that the decision to stay out of the West Indies tour has affected Sachin Tendulkar's batting adversely.

• The Master Blaster failed yet again in the first innings of the Edgbaston Test on Wednesday. Sachin edged an away moving Stuart Broad delivery to the slips after scoring just a run, to leave the Indian side in a precarious position at Birmingham.
  

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Gavaskar emphasized the importance of staying in action and said that at Sachin's age, it is extremely difficult to play catch up. "I think missing the West Indies trip has not really worked for Sachin. May be he'll score three centuries in the next three innings, but I think because he has not played competitive cricket, he is finding it difficult to get the right movement and the body balance", Gavaskar told NDTV.

Sachin Tendulkar, who had opted to stay out of the West Indies tour after a hectic World Cup and IPL season, has only managed to score a half century in the five innings he has played in England.

Gavaskar also said that a usually impeccable Sachin has made technical errors in the series so far. "He's been tentative, very tentative and that's because he hasn't got runs in the first four innings. He did get a half century at Trent Bridge, but even during that game he was feeling for balls outside the off stump. He is not certain where his off stump is and when that happens you tend to play at a lot of deliveries that you would leave alone", said the former Indian captain.

Sachin Tendulkar had begun the England tour with expectations of him getting a memorable hundredth ton at the Lord's but hopes since, have faded to an extent. India are 2-0 down in the series and are on the back foot in the ongoing Test at Birmingham.