Tendulkar injures hamstring, to return home immediately

Johannesburg, Jan 16 (PTI) Sachin Tendulkar handed ainjury concern to India just a day before the World Cup teamselection after he was ruled out of the remainder of the ODIseries against South Africa because of a hamstring problem.

Tendulkar injured his right hamstring during his 24-runinnings in the second ODI against the Proteas at the Wanderersyesterday, which India won by a slender one run margin tolevel the series 1-1.

Tendulkar did not field during the South African inningsand in the post-match press conference India captain MahendraSingh Dhoni confirmed that the champion batsman will not takepart in the remaining three ODIs of the five-match series.

"Sachin (Tendulkar) has sustained an injury and he willnot be playing the next 3 matches. He will be going back,"Dhoni said.

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

Earlier, Tendulkar Tendulkar had achieved anothermilestone in his career yesterday, when he equalled SanathJayasuriya''s record of being the most capped player in one-dayinternational cricket.

The second ODI against South Africa was Tendulkar''s 444thmatch, the same as Sri Lankan legend Jayasuriya''s.

Tendulkar''s injury is a worrying development for Indiaahead of the World Cup as the national selectors will pick thesquad for the mega-event tomorrow in Chennai.