Tendulkar, Harbhajan to miss first one-dayer

Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Sanjay Bangar will miss the first one-day international against New Zealand at Auckland, it was announced on Wednesday.

Tendulkar was bowling at the nets and complained of pain in his ankle after completing his quota of overs. He had to undergo ice-treatment. He has not regained full fitness and will sit out Thursday's game, said team officials .

Team physio Leipus said he would try to make the master batsman fit before the second game but said it was not certain at the moment.

"He sprained the lateral ligament of his ankle and will miss the game (1st ODI). We will try to get him fit for the next game. But if  necessary, we would rest him in there as well," Leipus said.

The physio said he wanted to follow the conservative approach rather than rush in getting Tendulkar out in the park again.

"It's quite swollen at the moment but he is able to walk around. It is a positive sign.

"At the moment he has just got his foot up in the bed. It's compressed, it's being iced every two hours and that's
all we can do for the next couple of days.

Leipus said Bangar's injury was "mild" but he still needed to be rested for the first ODI.

"He was injured on the last day of the Hamilton Test. He went over backwards and dropped the catch and his knee sort of went underneath him.

"He sprained his clerical ligament in his left knee at that time - it's only a mild injury but he needs to rest."

Harbhajan Singh is experiencing "some problem" in his bowling hand, which is a "long-standing" injury, team manager N R Choudhary said. But Harbhajan was definitely "on" for the second match, he said.

Earlier in the year, Tendulkar had missed the entire seven-match ODI series at home against West Indies last month because of a hamstring strain.