NEW DELHI – India’s Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled out of the ongoing one-day international series against South Africa by a hamstring injury, the cricket board said on Sunday. Tendulkar, 37, did not field during the South African innings in the second one-day international in Johannesburg on Saturday, which India won by a one-run margin.
“Tendulkar will not take further part in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa due to a hamstring injury,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a press release. Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel will be flown in as his replacement for the rest of the five-match series, currently tied 1-1. Tendulkar’s injury is a worrying development for the team, with the World Cup starting in South Asia on February 19. Tendulkar is the world’s leading scorer in both Tests (14,692) and one-dayers (17,629). A 15-member Indian squad for the World Cup will be announced in Chennai on Monday.
India have pulled out a win out of nowhere to level the series 1-1, but their task of winning the series has become more difficult with Sachin Tendulkar has become the fourth first-choice player to return to India, joining openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and fast bowler Praveen Kumar. A hamstring injury has ruled Tendulkar out of the series, and Parthiv Patel, the wicketkeeper-batsman, has been named as his replacement. M Vijay is the only specialist opener in the squad currently in South Africa.
Dhoni is no alien to such circumstances as India have hardly played cricket with their first-choice XIs over the last two years. “We will have to open with someone,” he said. “I don’t know what’s happening, whether we are getting someone from India [as replacement] or not. The visa will take three days at least, he will take the next flight, and by the time he comes here we will have just one match left. I don’t know who will open.”
