India's Sachin Tendulkar, who has been declared fit to play the third cricket Test against Australia at Nagpur, could play with his normal heavy bat, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) doctor Anant Joshi said on Saturday.
"I don't think the weight of the bat really matters in this case. Sachin can use his normal bat," Joshi, the head of BCCI medical panel, said in Kolkata.
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He said he had examined Tendulkar's affected elbow two days ago and was fully satisfied with his recovery.
"Two days ago his condition was very good following which we decided that the load on his hand could be progressively increased and a final decision about his availability for the third Test was taken by team physio Andrew Leipus this morning," Dr Joshi said.
After a practice session this morning in Mumbai, Leipus announced that Tendulkar will play in the third Test in Nagpur beginning on Tuesday.
When asked whether there was any risk of recurrence of the problem, Joshi said extra precaution had been taken in this case to ensure it did not recur.
"We played very safe as even before Chennai Test he was in a position to play but we did not allow him to take the risk and waited for some more time for complete recovery. Now we are sure that the problem is over," he said.
When asked why it took so long for the injury to heal, he said the problem of tennis elbow was such.
"In some people it gets better in a week to ten days, in some cases it take months and in some cases it never gets better," Joshi said.
Tendulkar has been out of action since August when the problem surfaced.
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