India coach Greg Chappell was looking forward to sharing the same dressing room with Sachin Tendulkar, but the news of latter's withdrawal from the ongoing Zimbabwe tour has disappointed him no end.
"I am disappointed that Tendulkar wouldn't be seen on this tour, but it is important that he recovers completely and is fit for India's future engagements," said Chappell from the sidelines, after his team had a practice stint at the Harare Sports Club nets in Harare on Wednesday afternoon.
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He has been replaced by Dheeraj Jadhav of Maharashtra to bolster the middle order and Chappell said the youngster would be welcomed in the squad for the two Tests scheduled against the hosts in Bulawayo (Sep 13-17) and Harare (Sep 20-24).
Meanwhile, Chappell is looking forward to a good showing from his batsmen in the remaining games of the tri-series.
"We are looking for three good games. I am not panicking as it is an experienced line-up, at least most of them are for sure. They all have had good starts at one time or other and, hopefully, we can go back to India with the batting order ticking along nicely."
Chappell said the batsmen are getting better after "half a dozen practice sessions we have had till now".
"They are getting more and more used to the extra bounce. If hard work counts for anything, we should get better," he declared.
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