Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has pulled out of the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka starting on August 14, after the second scan done on Thursday night revealed that the hairline fracture on his right toe had not healed properly. This is the first time Tendulkar will have missed a Test match since he made his debut against Pakistan at Karachi in November 1989, making it a total of 84 Tests on the trot.

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar told PTI in Mumbai today that Tendulkar, who underwent a third scan, informed BCCI secretary Jayawant Lele in Baroda that he would pull out of the Test series as the injury had not healed properly.

Radiologist Dr Bhujang Pai, who is treating the master batsman, said that Tendulkar would now consult a senior orthopaedic surgeon as the bone scan and CT scan done showed that the fracture had not healed completely.

Sports medicine expert Dr Anant Joshi will decide which orthopaedic doctor has to be consulted, he added. "Tendulkar, who was to undergo bone scan today, was suffering from acute pain, after he returned from Chennai where he had gone to shoot a commercial. He called up head of Hinduja Hospital nuclear department Dr BA Krishna and the decision to do the bone scan was taken immediately," Pai added.

Baroda's Jacob Martin, named as a standby, will take Tendulkar's place on the tour.

© PTI