Tendulkar joins India's casualty list as a toe injury prevents him from taking the field in Saturday's first ODI

After injuries afflicting most members of India's squad for the tour of England, Sachin Tendulkar joined the casualty list when his name did not figure in the playing XI for the first one-day international against England on Saturday.


Sachin Tendulkar snapped up during the one-day tour game between
Sussex and India at Hove last week on August 25. PIC/Getty Images

According to team manager Shivlal Yadav, Tendulkar, who was about to play his first limited overs international since the World Cup final in Mumbai on April 2, is suffering from a bone inflammation on the big toe of his right foot.

Television commentators said it was the same foot injury that troubled him 10 years ago after he returned from the tour of Zimbabwe. That 2001 injury caused him to miss a Test match and series for the first time since he made his debut for India in Pakistan during the 1989-90 series. "In the past, he had a fracture to this bone and yesterday, after the training, he felt a little pinch. In the morning he went for a light jog and felt pain.

Immediately, he spoke to Ashish Kaushik, the Indian team physio, and both felt it would be safe to rest him for this match. On Monday, Tendulkar will visit a surgeon in Southampton," Yadav was quoted as saying in ESPN Cricinfo. India's tour of England has been ridiculed with injuries. First up was Zaheer Khan, who limped off the field at Lord's on July 21 with a hamstring injury.

By the time he was unable to continue as a tourist, it was revealed that he had a serious ankle injury too.
During the second Test at Trent Bridge, southpaw Yuvraj Singh fractured a finger on his left hand and Harbhajan Singh damaged a stomach muscle. Both were ruled out of the tour.

Virender Sehwag, whose shoulder surgery forced him to miss the first two Tests, did very little to shore up India's batting woes in Birmingham and at the Oval before being ruled out due to labyrinthithis of the left ear.
On the same dayu00a0August 22 pacer Ishant Sharma was out of action due to a ligament injury on his left ankle suffered during the Birmingham Test.



Oval and out
In the final Test at the Oval, Gautam Gambhir, who missed the second Test through an elbow injury sustained while fielding in the opening Test at Lord's, fell while attempting to catch Kevin Pietersen. Failure to recover from a concussion put him out of the one-day series. Praveen Kumar's injured left ankle forced him to miss the Oval Test and in came RP Singh (Zaheer Khan's replacement), who looked rusty after his reported holiday in Miami.

Meanwhile, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's fingers too don't seem to be in great shape. Paul Nixon, the former England wicketkeeper, told media persons during the tourists' game against Leicestershire recently that Dhoni has sore hands. Dhoni reacted to that view by saying, "if majority of your fingers are overworked then it becomes difficult (to keep wicket) in these conditions."