SOUTHAMPTON: India's injury worries on the tour of England have gone from bad to worse to the bizarre. The latest to join the list of the wounded is Sachin Tendulkar, who has been ruled out of the one-day series because of the recurrence of an inflammation on the big toe of his right foot.
Sachin, who visited a specialist in London, will require four to six weeks of rest to recover and so he is also doubtful for the Champions League T20 event, to be played from Sept 19 to Oct 5. Tendulkar's injury, which dates as far back as 2001, flared up just before the start of the washed-out first ODI at Chester-le-Street. The injury means fans, and Sachin himself, will have to wait for his 100th international century till later this year.
Tendulkar's loss, however, is Badrinath's gain, with the Tamil Nadu batsman now being named as his replacement. Badrinath will be the 29th Indian player overall on this tour of England. He had a poor tour of the West Indies, is a veteran on the domestic scene and it's strange how only an ever-expanding list of returnees has necessitated his selection. Tendulkar will be the eighth player to return home following Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh.
"Tendulkar has been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against England due to a toe injury. He has been advised rest for four weeks. The selection committee has chosen S Badrinath to replace him," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
