Praveen Kumar ruled out of SA ODI series

India'a injury woes continued with medium pacer Praveen Kumar heading home after sustaining an elbow injury on the eve of their five-match ODI series against South Africa starting on Wednesday.

Ishant Sharma has been called as Kumar's replacement.

Team manager Ranjib Biswal confirmed the news of Kumar's injury on his bowling arm, which he suffered during the only T20 match against South Africa on Sunday.

Kumar's injury has left skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni a bit concerned.

"Praveen has been one of our main bowler in the shorter version of cricket. He has been pretty effective with the new ball. Keeping in mind the World Cup, we don't want to risk him," Dhoni said.

Kumar has been crucial to the think-tank's scheme of things in One-dayers, bowling tight overs and giving the team the much-needed breakthroughs. He has been fairly successful with the new as well as the old ball, and often used the long handle to good effect.

The growing list of injuries has hit the visitors hard ahead of the ODI series.

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have already flown back home to nurse their injuries, while S Sreesanth developed tennis elbow a few days back.