Sachin ruled out of series

Toe injury sidelines Master; Badrinath brought in

“It was the injury that he had in 2002 and it flared up on the eve of the opening match,” said the logistics manager for the Indian team, MA Satish, at India’s press-do on Monday.

“He went to a specialist in London and we got the news that he would not be taking any further part in the one-day series. He might need rest for four to six weeks. That is the latest I have got from the physio (Ashish Kaushik).”

It is more or less certain that India will have to play a batsman short in Tuesday’s second one-dayer after they were left with only 13 fit players following the exit of the Mumbai duo of Rohit Sharma and Tendulkar in quick succession.

Rohit’s replacement Manoj Tiwary is expected to land in London by early Tuesday, and then proceed to join the team in Southampton. Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir’s reinforcement Ravindra Jadeja’s arrival has been delayed as the left-handed all-rounder is yet to obtain his UK visa. Indian team manager Shivlal Yadav confirmed that the Saurashtra player would join the squad only in London from the third match onwards.

Tendulkar joins the long injured list which started with Zaheer Khan pulling his right hamstring on the opening day of the Lord’s Test.

Following Zaheer’s injury, India lost Harbhajan Singh (tear in lower abdomen), Yuvraj Singh (fractured left-index finger), Virender Sehwag (lybirinthitis in the left ear and shoulder injury), Ishant Sharma (injured left ankle), Gambhir (concussion resulting in blurred vision and nausea) and Rohit (fractured right-index finger).