August 19, 2008	Tuesday	Sha’aban 16, 1429

DAMBULLA (Sri Lanka), Aug 18: India’s opener Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ongoing one-day series against Sri Lanka due to an ankle injury, a top official said here on Monday.

“He (Sehwag) is out of the series,” said Indian manager Sanjay Desai.

Sehwag missed the opening one-dayer of the five-match series here on Monday after failing to recover from the injury, sustained during a practice session on Sunday evening.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they would miss the in-form batsman, especially after the team’s eight-wicket defeat in the first match.

“He was the batsman in top form. It (injury) was quite bad yesterday and he is still in the hotel,” Dhoni said during the post-match press conference.

“That’s the way it goes in cricket. You can’t really think about the guys you are missing. Instead, you must fill that space. That’s the only way the team can win.”

Sehwag was the top scorer in the recent three-Test series against the hosts as he made 344 runs, including an unbeaten 201 in his team’s victory in the second match in Galle. India eventually lost the series 2-1.

He has made 5,810 runs in 191 One-day Internationals with nine hundreds and 29 half-centuries.—AFP