Dhoni blames illness for Sachin's failure

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said illness played a key role in Sachin Tendulkar's poor returns during the first Test against England here at Lord's.

Tendulkar was kept waiting for an unprecedented 100th international hundred after being dismissed for 34 and 12 as England won what was the 2,000th Test of all-time by 196 runs on Monday to go 1-0 up in the four-match series.

'The Little Master', whose 51 Test centuries and 48 in one-day internationals are both world records, was rested from India's recent tour of the West Indies.

Tendulkar, who owns a property near Lord's, had spent much of the past month practising at the 'home of cricket'.

But during the course of the first Test he was struck down by a viral infection which forced him to spend most of Sunday's fourth day off the field and that meant he had to bat out of position in India's second innings. Londan AFP