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Hamstring injury forces Agarkar out

The Colombo-bound Indian cricket team for the tri-series against Sri Lanka and Australia suffered its first casualty, with Bombay allrounder Ajit Agarkar being forced to pull out due to a hamstring injury.

Anshuman Gaekwad, coach of the team, said, "Agarkar felt a pain in his leg while bowling at the nets this morning."

Late in the evening, BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur announced that Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the speedster from West Bengal, will replace Agarkar.

Even as captain Sachin Tendulkar was addressing the media in the morning, the 21-year-old Agarkar was taken to a private hospital for diagnosis. It was confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that he had pulled a hamstring.

"He needs rest for a week to ten days," Gaekwad confirmed.

This is the second time that Agarkar is being forced to pull out of the team due to injury. On the eve of the tour to New Zealand in December last year, he had to withdraw due to a shin injury. After regaining fitness, he returned to the team for the one-day home series agaist Pakistan. Later, he was picked for the World Cup in England, where he had an unsuccessful outing.

After the World Cup, Agarkar had a short stint at the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras, under former Aussie speedster Dennis Lillee, to iron out flaws in his bowling.

UNI