NEW DELHI: Indian batting star Sachin Tendulkar has been cleared by doctors to continue playing in the World Cup after an MRI scan on his knees, the Press Trust of India reported Monday. The 37-year-old batsman, who is considered vital to India's chances of winning the 14-team tournament, was taken to a Mumbai hospital overnight after experiencing discomfort in his knees. “The MRI scan is clear. There is no problem,” PTI quoted an official of Lilavati Hospital as saying. “It's an old injury. It was just a niggle. It's nothing to worry about. The (MRI) report is all clear,” Indian team manager Ranjib Biswal told Reuters. Tendulkar is playing in a record sixth World Cup, which finishes on April 2. He was expected to join the squad on Monday evening in Bangalore. Website crashes The website selling just 1,000 tickets for the Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on April 2 crashed seconds after they went on sale Monday sparking furious complaints from fans. Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT via the International Cricket Council's (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic. Of the 31,000 seats at the Wankhede Stadium, only 4,000 are available to the public — 1,000 online while another 3,000 will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association. With such a small proportion available to the general public in a cricket-crazy country where the population is more than a billion, it is little wonder that there has been a mad scramble for tickets. ‘Spot-fixing behind us' Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said in Sri Lanka Monday that the spot-fixing scandal, which sparked lengthy bans for three high-profile players, will not haunt his embattled team at the World Cup. In fact, the controversy, said Waqar, is not even discussed in the dressing room. Former Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned on charges of corruption relating to last year's Lord's Test against England. All three are facing criminal prosecution in Britain. “I don't think it will haunt Pakistan at all,” said Waqar, ahead of Pakistan's opening match Wednesday against Kenya. “We all know that we have been through tough times in the recent past but that does not mean that we don't have talent.” Waqar said he and his players have learnt to deal with controversies. The coach also said that Akhtar was still not hundred percent fit. Ponting bags appearance record Ricky Ponting broke the World Cup appearance record Monday when he played his 40th game at the tournament in Australia's Group A match against Zimbabwe. The Australia captain overtook former teammate Glenn McGrath to hold the record outright. Both players had been tied on 39 appearances at the end of the 2007 event in West Indies. Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram played 38 World Cup matches, with India's superstar batsman Sachin Tendulkar now up to 37 after India's tournament-opening victory over Bangladesh Saturday. Ponting, who is a three-time World Cup winner, said Sunday he hadn't been aware he was about to break the record, but added the achievement would be “nice” when he finished playing. Lanka slashes ticket prices Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to reduce World Cup tickets prices by more than 50 percent for some matches not featuring the host nation to boost crowd numbers. A near capacity crowd of 35,000 turned up to see the 1996 champion thrash Canada Sunday in Hambantota but officials expect a near empty arena during Pakistan's opening World Cup game against Kenya at the same venue Wednesday. “The ICC (International Cricket Council) has said that they will be happy if we can get in 10 percent of the spectators who turn up for the key Sri Lanka matches,” Sri Lanka's World Cup director Suraj Dandeniya said. “The most challenging task for us is to price the tickets in a manner that we can attract as many spectators as possible to the grounds. “As a result we have decided to reduce the price of a ticket by around 50 percent. For instance a SLR 2500 ($22.54) will be priced at SLR 1,000 ($9.02).” Pakistan will play all six of their Group A matches in Sri Lanka. Dandeniya said the lowest priced tickets will be SLR 30 and SLR 20.
