Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled out of the first Test between India and Australia, which begins in Bangalore on Wednesday. It will be the first time that the master batsman will miss a home Test.
It was in November 1990, against Sri Lanka at Chandigarh, that Tendulkar played his first Test on home turf, though he had made 10 Test appearances in three different countries by that time after making his debut against Pakistan a year before.
Since then Tendulkar never missed a Test at home, taking his tally of consecutive Tests to 47. Only Sunil Gavaskar (56) played more consecutive home Tests than Tendulkar for India.
Overall, it will be the fourth time that Tendulkar will miss a Test. In fact, the three previous Tests Tendulkar missed were in the same series.
A hairline fracture in his right toe forced him to miss three-match Test series against Sri Lanka in August-September 2001 and brought an end to his streak of playing 84 Test matches at the trot.
His replacement, Jacob Martin, did not get to play in a single Test as India went on to lose the series 1-2.
This is how the previous three Tests Tendulkar missed went off:
Galle, Sri Lanka (14-17 August 2001)
India: 187 & 180
Sri Lanka: 362 & 6-0
Result: Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets
Kandy, Sri Lanka (22-25 August 2001)
Sri Lanka: 274 & 221
India: 232 & 264-3
Result: India won by 7 wickets
Colombo SSC, Sri Lanka (29 August-2 September 2001)
India: 234 & 299
Sri Lanka: 610-6 decl.
Result: Sri Lanka won by an innings & 77 runs