Zaheer Khan ruled out of Bangladesh match

A familiar sight © AFP Enlarge

Zaheer Khan will definitely miss India's Asia Cup match against Bangladesh, and his participation in the remaining games will be assessed by the team management over the next couple of days. Speaking to the media, John Wright, India's coach, revealed that Zaheer tweaked his quadriceps muscle even before he had bowled a ball during Sunday's Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. Zaheer bowled gingerly, at medium-pace, during the Sri Lankan innings, and came out to bat later in the evening with a runner.

Speaking about the injury, John Wright, the team coach, said: "Before he bowled a ball in the last match he tweaked a quad muscle in his left leg, which happened while he was fielding, sprinting for a ball. Obviously it affected his bowling. Andrew Leipus [the physio] is very happy with the progress he has made in the last 36 hours but he won't be fit for tomorrow's game."

Wright didn't talk about an immediate replacement being called in, but said that the team management would decide on the course of action in the next couple of days. "We will have to look at the whole situation regarding his fitness for the two remaining games in the tournament sometime later tomorrow or the day after. From our point we want the situation sorted out because we want to be picking from a full squad."

The injury is only the latest in what has been a series of fitness worries for Zaheer. He missed two Tests against Australia in December last year, and the one-day VB Series that followed. He recovered in time to play in the one-day series against Pakistan in March, but limped out of the Test series in Multan. Recently, he had to cut a brief stint at Surrey short with further problems.

Wright, however, pointed out that the current injury wasn't a recurrence of his earlier problems. "From what I understand it was not exactly the same because it was sustained while fielding and not bowling. He just got fit, bowled well in that first game and looked as good as I have seen him for 12 months - for it to recur while fielding is very unfortunate."

"From the team's point of view and his we have got to try and get on top of the situation," Wright continued, "because its tough on the player and we can't have it happening regularly."

Zaheer's injury means that Ashish Nehra or Harbhajan Singh will get a look-in in the game against Bangladesh.