Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar has filed a civil lawsuit against an Australian bat manufacturer, accusing the entity of using his name and image to promote and market products and then failing to pay him USD 2 million in royalties.

In Federal Court papers filed this month and reviewed by Reuters, Tendulkar said Sydney-based Spartan Sports International agreed in 2016 to pay him at least $1 million a year to use his image, logo and promotional services to sell "Sachin by Spartan" sporting goods and clothing.

The retired star batsman soon went to work promoting the products, and appeared at a range of promotional events in places such as London and the Indian financial hub of Mumbai, the documents showed.

However, by September 2018, Spartan did not live up to its commitments and failed to make a single payment owed, Tendulkar said, and he made a formal request for payment. When none came, he ended the agreement, asking the company to stop using his name and likeness.

Spartan, whose legal representative was not listed on the Federal Court website, did not respond to an email request from Reuters for comment.

Les Galbraith, listed by the court documents as its chief operating officer, did not respond to a private message sent to his LinkedIn page.

The law firm listed as representing Tendulkar, Gilbert + Tobin, declined comment.