By Rex Clementine, IANS,
Colombo : India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni rued the absence of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar for the five match ODI series against hosts Sri Lanka that begins next week.
“It’s very difficult to replace him. Not only with bat and ball, but in the dressing room as well. He gives us a lot of advice and comes up with brilliant ideas so it’s going to be a big loss,” said Dhoni, who took a break from the game skipping the Tests that preceded the ODIs.
Tendulkar hurt his left elbow while fielding during the third and final Test Match at Colombo’s P. Sara Stadium and is replaced by Tamil Nadu batsman Subramaniam Badrinath.
The Indian team arrived in Colombo after a four-hour flight delay and soon after arriving at the team hotel attended the series launch. After the launch, the team rushed off to attend another function at the Indian High Commission arranged ahead of India’s independence celebrations.
The first ODI begins at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium Aug 18.
India ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Subramaniam Badrinath, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha.