India's worst fears came true on Saturday when Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy starting September 10.
Tendulkar has been ruled out of cricketing action for two weeks after he failed to recover from the tennis elbow that forced him to miss the tri-series in Holland and the three-match NatWest Challenge against England.
According to team manager Goutam Dasgupta, team physio Andrew Leipus informed him that Tendulkar had not responded to the treatment as expected and he will not be available for any cricket for the next fortnight.
The team management sought a replacement and the national cricket selection committee decided that Rohan Gavaskar would take Tendulkar's place in the side.
BCCI Joint Secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty said the decision to replace Tendulkar was taken by four national selectors.
"I spoke to four selectors, including chairman (Syed Kirmani), but could not contact Kirti Azad. Kirmani too could not get in touch with him. The other four selectors decided to retain Gavaskar in the squad as Tendulkar's replacement," said Shetty.
India are set to open their campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy on September 11 against Kenya at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire and have another league tie scheduled on September 19 against Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
