Sachin Tendulkar is expected to be fit for India's tour of South Africa, starting on October 1, the doctor, who is treating the maestro's foot injury, said on Tuesday.

"He (Sachin) should recover from his foot injury by the end of September. I am hopeful that he will be ready to go to South Africa," Anant Joshi told NDTV in an interview for Star News.

Tendulkar had to miss out on the current Sri Lanka tour due to a foot fracture which he suffered during India's recent Zimbabwe tour.

"We will take another CT scan after three to four weeks to see how the healing is progressing," Joshi said adding that in the meantime they will also work on protected footwear so that when he gets back there were no chances of his again getting injured.

Normally any injury of a lower limb takes four to six weeks to join or gum up and another four to six weeks to really consolidate and become strong enough to take pressure, Joshi said while describing Tendulkar's injury as "fracture of great toe of the right foot."

However, he said in case of players like Tendulkar, who are optimistic, the recovery was fast.

Asked if the injury was due to overdose of cricket, the doctor said "no". "In Sachin's case it has nothing to do with overdose of cricket. It is a plain simple accident which could happen to anybody."

Describing his injury as "temporary halt", Tendulkar said "if I am fit I would like to go tomorrow and play the Test match. I am just keeping my fingers crossed and hope it will get better as soon as possible and get back to action. What else I can do?"

Expressing his eagerness to play against South Africa, Tendulkar said, "South Africa is one of the top sides and I am looking forward to go there and play against them. I hope to get back in action as soon as possible."

About the pressure from the public for being away from the game, the batting maestro said "Sometimes it is difficult to answer each and every individual but I totally understand their feelings. I feel happy that people are concerned about me and want me to get back to action. All I can say is I am trying my best."

Asked if he thought too much cricket was resulting in injuries among a lot of players, Tendulkar said "I don't want to say that we have played a lot of cricket and that's why there were so many injuries. But at the same time I would like to play some amount of cricket provided there are some breaks in between. This help players recover and recharge their batteries. They can also spend some time with the families and go out to play with a fresh mind. And even sitting at home, one can analyse his game and get better."

Though it was a forced break, Tendulkar said he enjoyed each and every moment of it with his family. "It was a different feeling altogether to have breakfast with my son in his school which would not have been possible, if I would not have got injured," he said.

© PTI