Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that he once thought tennis elbow would bring his cricket career to a premature end.

The Little Master is now regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever batsmen, but he was kept out of action by the elbow injury for several months in 2004.

Speaking to Indian news provider NDTV recently, Tendulkar said: "After my tennis elbow … I thought I would never play cricket again.

"I thought my career was over. I prayed to God to give me one chance."

Tendulkar's tennis elbow was thought to be caused by his constant involvement with top-class cricket since the age of 16, as he made his Test debut for India in 1989.

He has also suffered with other sports injuries during his career, including back, hand, ankle and hamstring problems.

The Mumbai-born player became the highest run-scorer in Test cricket history when he surpassed Brian Lara's total of 11,953 in October last year.