Hughes seeks Tendulkar advice to aid comeback

Sydney:

Dumped Australian opening batsman Phillip Hughes is seeking a meeting with Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar as he attempts to resurrect his stalled Test career, reports said on Saturday.

The dashing 20-year-old went into the recent Ashes series against England as a rising star of the team, only to be dropped after the opening two Tests.

The unorthodox left-hander posted 36 in the drawn first Test in Cardiff and scores of four and 17 in England's victory at Lord's before his place was taken by all-rounder Shane Watson.

Hughes could have travelled home this week, but instead he stopped off in India to work on his game with his coach Neil D'Costa and catch up with Tendulkar.

He intends to fly to Mumbai on Monday and hopes to have dinner with Tendulkar.

"I'll chew his ear off," Hughes told The Australian newspaper.

"I've got questions about a lot of things that I want to ask him. I like getting around and talking to the guys who have been around for a long time.

"Sachin has been around and I've been watching him since I was a youngster.

"He hardly ever seemed to miss out, he always seems to be scoring runs and not just on one or two parks, he gets them everywhere. His consistency is so great and I still love watching him now."

Hughes will also get in some work on his batting technique with his coach D'Costa, who is in India to help out at the newly built cricket academy in Nagpur.

"The goal is to always get better," Hughes said. "I had always planned to catch up with Neil no matter what happened. I wanted to get in the nets with him and keep working on my game."

D'Costa, who also works with Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke, said batting was about mechanics.

"We aren't working on specifics, but one thing I know from working with kids, through adolescence and into their early adulthood, is that your technique does change and you need to keep addressing the biomechanics of it to understand how you are playing," D'Costa told the newspaper.

Hughes said his plans were to return to Australia, play in the Champions League for New South Wales and then start scoring runs at Sheffield Shield level in a bid to force his way back into the Test side.