Johannesburg, Jan 16 (PTI) Sachin Tendulkar''s returnOne-day cricket after an 11-month hiatus has been cut shortdue to a hamstring injury and the iconic batsman will bereplaced by diminutive Parthiv Patel for the remainder of theseries against South Africa.
Tendulkar''s injury comes a day before the selectioncommittee meeting in Chennai to pick the 15-member squad forthe ICC World Cup, starting February 19.
Tendulkar, who had not played one-dayers after scoringfirst ever ODI double hundred in February 2010, suffered theinjury during the second ODI against the Proteas yesterday.
"Sachin Tendulkar will not take further part in theongoing ODI series against South Africa due to a hamstringinjury. Parthiv Patel is being flown to South Africa as hisreplacement," BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said in a release.
Tendulkar did not field during the South African inningsyesterday and at the post-match press conference India captainMahendra Singh Dhoni had said that the champion batsman willnot take part in the remaining three ODIs of the five-matchseries.
With this, Sachin has become the fourth Indian cricketerto return home due to injury after openers Virender Sehwag,Gautam Gambhir and pacer Praveen Kumar.
Tendulkar had achieved another milestone in his careeryesterday, when he equalled Sanath Jayasuriya''s record ofbeing the most capped player in one-day international cricket.
The second ODI against South Africa was Tendulkar''s 444thmatch, the same as Sri Lankan legend Jayasuriya played in hiscareer.