India rock by Gambhir return to home



Gautam Gambhir will miss India's limited-overs games against England due to concussion.

The left-handed opening batsman has made a slower than expected recovery since knocking his head on The Oval turf while attempt - and failing - to take a catch offered by Kevin Pietersen during the final match of the four-Test npower series.

The 29-year-old bat down the order in both innings during the Test but was still concerned by indistinct vision when he took to the nets on Monday.

A spokesman for the Indian team said: "Gautam Gambhir is flying home to India as soon as possible after he was diagnosed with concussion on Tuesday.

"He went to see a specialist in Manchester who advised Gautam to have complete rest. "It was therefore determined he would be sent home and will miss the incomplete overs series with England."

His nonattendances adds to India’s long wound list and further deplete a batting order already without Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh ahead of Thursday's one-off Twenty20 at Old Trafford.

Earlier on Tuesday, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni exposed he did not expect Gambhir to be passed fit before admitting his absence would be a "big loss".

With star man Sachin Tendulkar retired from from Twenty20 internationals the tourists are set to turn to the more stoic presence of veteran Rahul Dravid for Wednesday's game under the new Old Trafford lights.

It would, extraordinarily, be the 38-year-old's first, and last, Twenty20 international after he announces his limited-overs departure after being selected in the squad.

"Losing Gambhir will be a big loss for us but you can't control injuries," Dhoni said. "Hopefully someone will stand up and take the responsibility." He added: "It looks like Rahul will play.

"You don't want to be a batter light; in this format you want your top seven batsmen. "So Rahul will most probable get a chance."

India's wound crisis has not been consigned to their batsmen only, with quicks Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma also strike down as well as spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The long list of wounded has served to weaken India's performances on a forgettable tour that has seen them already surrender the Test series, and the world's top ranking, to England following a 4-0 whitewash.

That has twisted the focus on the amount of cricket being played. The tourists' best players - most of who are concerned in the Indian Premier League.

While Dhoni believes Indian cricket almost certainly needs to employ the type of rotational policy England have used in recent times - something they did do on the tour of the Caribbean - he thinks the IPL has become the easy answer to explanation away any ills in the national team.

"Whenever anything bad happens in Indian cricket it is put down to the IPL," he said. "Irrespective of the fact we play in April and we lose a series in August. "That's one thing that will always be answerable on IPL."

He added: "I think we'll have to (look at resting players) because the timetable looks quite cramped. "It's significant to give players rest. Someone like a Suresh Raina has been playing all the formats for a long time now.

"It's more to deal with the mental aspect than the physical aspect. A bit of good rest in between also helps keep the injuries away."

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