Sachin Tendulkar, the India batsman, has been ruled out of the remaining three matches of the one-day international (ODI) series against South Africa because of a hamstring injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said yesterday.
The 37-year-old did not field during the South Africa innings in the second ODI 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 BCCI said.
Parthiv Patel, the wicketkeeper-batsman, will be flown in as his replacement for the rest of the series, which is level at 1-1, with the third match taking place in Cape Town tomorrow.
Tendulkar's injury is a worrying development for the team, with the World Cup starting on February 19. He is the latest senior player to pick up a knock, with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, the opening batsmen, and Praveen Kumar, the medium-pacer, all having had to go back to India due to injuries. A 15-member India squad for the World Cup is due to be announced in Chennai today.
Meanwhile, Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, completed the sixth Test century of his career during yesterday's second day of the second Test with Pakistan in Wellington.
He hit 110 off 166 balls as he scored his first hundred in 13 months and he said: "If you aren't scoring runs then you're out of form, but I've felt relatively good the whole way through, but it just hasn't worked for me in the last four Tests.
"It was disappointing because I set pretty high standards [for myself], so it's nice to get it back today."
New Zealand made 356 in their first innings and Pakistan resumed this morning on 134 for two in their reply.
