Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara

Calcutta: The absence of injured Sachin Tendulkar from the ODI squad will be a big loss for spectators in the Caribbean, according to a report in a newspaper in Trinidad.

“I think it is unfortunate because we are all entertainers. The public would have loved to see Sachin,” Lara said.

“He’s going to be here for the World Cup hopefully, but any opportunity to see him would have been great for the public,” he added.

The 37-year-old Lara felt that the presence of a player of Tendulkar’s class could help the development of young West Indies players.

“As team members, we can only learn from a player like that.

“It doesn’t mean that India, with a player like Sachin Tendulkar in the team, is actually going to beat the West Indies. Yes, they would have a player of high class, but we would have loved to have him here playing against us,” the West Indies captain maintained.