Virender Sehwag injured his ankle on the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka © AFP

Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the remaining four one-day internationals against Sri Lanka due to an ankle injury. He had twisted his left ankle during practice on Sunday and played no part in the first ODI at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Monday which India lost by eight wickets.

One of India's in-form batsmen, he scored 344 runs in the Test series earlier, the highest by any batsman on either side. Along with Gautam Gambhir, he was one of the few Indian batsmen who looked assured against Sri Lanka's spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, said the team would miss Sehwag. "He was a batsman in top form. But that's the way it goes in cricket. You can't really stop and think about the guys you will be missing in the series. Rather than that you will have to fill in that space. Because that is the only way your team can win.

"We may look at a different combination of openers for the next game but it's at a very initial stage. We have just gone through the first game so whatever fits the team best we'll decide on that," he said.

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said no replacement would be sent for Sehwag. "We had sent a squad of 16 players for the tour of Sri Lanka and now with Sehwag's pull-out, there will still be 15 players remaining in the squad," Shah told cricketnirvana.com. "We will therefore not send across any players to replace Sehwag."

India are already without Sachin Tendulkar, who withdrew from the ODI series after sustaining an elbow injury during the final Test in Colombo.