Cricket World Cup: Injured Tendulkar in India squad

Tendulkar hurt his hamstring during Saturday's second ODI with South Africa

India have named Sachin Tendulkar in their 15-man World Cup squad, despite concerns over the opener's fitness.

Tendulkar strained his right hamstring in Saturday's one-day international victory over South Africa and was forced to fly home early.

The 37-year-old is the world's top run scorer in ODIs with 17,629 runs, including 46 hundreds and 93 fifties.

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are co-hosts for the World Cup, which will be held between 19 February and 2 April.

Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and fast bowler Praveen Kumar, who are sitting out the current series against South Africa because of injury, have also been named in India's squad.

I really pity them! Let's hope and pray that the team wins the World Cup K Srikkanth India Chairman of selectors

India's chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth said: "I am not worried at all about the injuries, these are part of the game.

"I am confident the team will be fully fit when the World Cup starts."

Wicketkeeper MS Dhoni will captain the side, with India's opening match against Bangladesh in Dhaka on 19 February.

Indian selectors have named two extra spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla, in addition to Harbhajan Singh but have opted to leave out batsman Rohit Sharma.

"Spinners will play a major role," said Srikkanth. "This team has been doing brilliantly in the last few years.

Expectations are high among India fans that their team will lift the trophy in Mumbai.

"Of course, there will be tremendous pressure on the players," added Srikanth. "I really pity them! Let's hope and pray that the team wins the World Cup."

He may also be praying for the fitness of Tendulkar.

606: DEBATE How do you feel about the news? JS

The iconic batsman has scored over 4,000 more runs than his nearest challenger for the ODI record, Sri Lanka opener Sanath Jayasuriya.

He also equalled Jayasuriya's record of 444 ODI appearances on Saturday as India won at the Wanderers to level the five-match series with South Africa at 1-1.

Tendulkar made 24 but required treatment while batting and did not field.

He had been set to break the one-day international appearance record in Tuesday's third ODI at Newlands in Cape Town but will now be replaced by Parthiv Patel for the rest of the series.

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India Squad for Cricket World Cup

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla.