This is where he had blasted his highest one-day score of 150 in February. Its also where he had decoded the Ajantha Mendis puzzle to lead the way for his bamboozled Indian colleagues last season. So,Gautam Gambhir wouldve looked forward to another crack on Sri Lankan soil,but a groin injury has this time forced his return without facing a ball. Gambhirs absence from the practice session on Thursday appeared ominous,triggering a wave of uncertainty over his availability for the tri-series. News soon poured in that he had been advised 10 days rest,and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally announced that his most prolific batsman was out of the tournament on the eve of their first match against New Zealand at the Premadasa Stadium. For a team chasing the No 1 ranking in one-day cricket,Gambhirs exclusion is a huge setback,especially since India are without the services of Virender Sehwag at the top of the order. Sources said that Gambhir was eager to play,pointing out that the injury was not serious,but the team management decided to not risk any further damage ahead of the Champions Trophy later this month. Its really a big blow. Gambhir has been a consistent performer for the last one-and-a-half years. You can take precaution from injury,but its hard to avoid it. Well miss him in this tournament, Dhoni said. Slight pain The Indian captain said Gambhir had been in some discomfort coming into the event but they werent exactly sure how serious the problem was. I knew that he has some pain after playing the Corporate Trophy. It got aggravated during our last session here,but I dont know what happened to him exactly, Dhoni said. While the selectors have named Virat Kohli as Gambhirs replacement,Dhoni said that asking him to open would be unfair because hes a middle-order batsman. Dinesh Karthik will open the innings,like he did in West Indies. I dont want to give a player only one chance to show his caliber that would be an injustice to Virat,especially since he bats in the middle-order. Rahul at No 3 Tendulkar will open the innings with Karthik,and Rahul Dravid has been assigned the number three slot on his return to ODIs after a two-year gap especially since batting under lights is not easy at the Premadasa. Rahul has proved in the past and he is best man for tough situations,and the ball turns a lot here in the evening, Dhoni said. It is likely that leg-spinner Amit Mishra will have to sit out,however,as the Indian team are planning to go in with Harbhajan Singh as the lone spinner. We have been playing with only four main bowlers over the last one year. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have bowled well,so they can chip in with few overs. We also had Sehwag,who used to bowl a few off-spinners. Its been a long time since we fielded five specialist bowlers in a one-day international, Dhoni said. For New Zealand,who skipped practice on Thursday,this match will be the last chance to stay in the series after the loss to Sri Lanka two days ago. The bowlers did well in the first match,but skipper Daniel Vettori is expecting a lot more from the batsmen.
