Parthiv to join team in place of Tendulkar

JOHANNESBURG: Sachin Tendulkar's return One-day cricket after an 11-month hiatus has been cut short due to a hamstring injury and the iconic batsman will be replaced by diminutive Parthiv Patel for the remainder of the series against South Africa.

Tendulkar's injury comes a day before the selection committee meeting in Chennai to pick the 15-member squad for the ICC World Cup, starting February 19.

Tendulkar, who had not played one-dayers after scoring first ever ODI double hundred in February 2010, suffered the injury during the second ODI against the Proteas yesterday.

"Sachin Tendulkar will not take further part in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa due to a hamstring injury. Parthiv Patel is being flown to South Africa as his replacement," BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said in a release.

Tendulkar did not field during the South African innings yesterday and at the post-match press conference India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had said that the champion batsman will not take part in the remaining three ODIs of the five-match series.

With this, Sachin has become the fourth Indian cricketer to return home due to injury after openers Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and pacer Praveen Kumar.

Tendulkar had achieved another milestone in his career yesterday, when he equalled Sanath Jayasuriya's record of being the most capped player in one-day international cricket.

The second ODI against South Africa was Tendulkar's 444th match, the same as Sri Lankan legend Jayasuriya played in his career.

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