Sachin bats, with heavy willow

A day after hurting his ankle in a freak incident while batting at practice, Sachin Tendulkar allayed fears of a serious injury scare by getting back into the thick of the action this afternoon.

A day after hurting his ankle in a freak incident while batting at practice, Sachin Tendulkar allayed fears of a serious injury scare by getting back into the thick of the action this afternoon.

In a closed-door indoor nets session at the Eden Gardens premises, Tendulkar knocked the ball around for half an hour, putting an end to fears that the ankle sprain could have turned serious because he didn’t turn up in the morning’s fielding and fitness session.

Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Tendulkar has chosen to go back to his old style of playing with a heavy bat in a bid to bat his way out of rusty form.

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The former Indian captain, who has been using a 2.74 pound bat for over a year now since the tennis elbow struck, today procured heavier bats—switching to 2.85 lbs.

Confirming the development, owner of a top Kolkata-based sports merchandise store (B Dasgupta & Co), Somnath Dasgupta disclosed that three bats, heavier than what Tendulkar has been using in the past one year, were brought in from Meerut, prepared by bat makers Sarin & Sarin.

The Mumbai maestro is expected to revert to the heavy bat during the two-Test Bangladesh series.

Today, after a heavy shower struck in the afternoon, the Indian team was forced to have the nets session in the state-of-the-art indoor facility, where Tendulkar batted comfortably for nearly half an hour.