Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Bangar and Harbhajan Singh have been ruled out of the opening one-day international against New Zealand at Eden Park. "He [Tendulkar] was bowling the last ball of the day in the nets when he stepped on a little hole and sprained his right ankle," said Richard Leipus, India's physiotherapist. "It's quite swollen at the moment, but he's walking around and that's a positive sign. He'll be missing this game and I'll try and get him ready for the next but, if necessary, will rest him for that as well.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed. We'll have to wait and see. We have got seven matches coming and then the World Cup, so it's better to take a conservative approach rather than struggle with a chronic swollen ankle."

Bangar was also sidelined after injuring his knee during the second Test at Hamilton, while Harbhajan has a minor problem with his bowling arm. Both are expected to be fit for the second ODI.

India lost both Tests inside three playing days and will view the seven-match one-day series both as an opportunity to prepare for the World Cup and also a chance to restore some pride. With one eye on those objectives, Ashish Nehra and Rakesh Patel, a fast bowler from Baroda, have been included in the squad in addition to the 14 chosen before the second Test. This means that India now have five fast bowlers in their 16-man squad, with Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar being the others.

Nehra's inspired spell on the last day of the Test won him one of those berths. Patel's inclusion was a surprise though. He has been one of the more consistent fast bowlers in the Indian domestic circuit, but his Baroda team-mate, Irfan Pathan jr, and Mumbai's Avishkar Salvi were widely considered as being ahead of Patel in the pecking order.

New Zealand, meanwhile, opted to omit allrounders Chris Cairns and Chris Harris from the 12-man squad selected for the first two one-dayers, on the grounds that they had yet to regain full fitness.

Richard Hadlee, the chairman of selectors, said that Cairns had been progressing well, but still required more rehabilitation time after a recent knee surgery. He added that Harris, who is also on the comeback trail after injury, needed some more games at the state level before he would be considered for selection.

Scott Styris, the allrounder who had a poor Test series against India, was a surprising omission from the squad. "Styris is a player who might consider himself unlucky," said Hadlee, "but he is competing for his spot with a number of other allrounders. The door is by no means shut and the onus is on him and others to score some runs and take wickets at domestic level."

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