Dambulla: India suffered a jolt ahead of their cricket tri-series opener against New Zealand as paceman Ishant Sharma was on Monday ruled out of the match due to an ankle injury.
The lanky Delhi bowler was to do the duty with new ball along with state-mate Ashish Nehra.
"Ishant is not available for tomorrow's match because of an ankle problem," India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference.
India are already without experienced pacer Zaheer Khan, senior spinner Harbhajan Singh and opener Gautam Gambhir.
Zaheer had missed the just concluded Test series against Sri Lanka due to a shoulder problem and flew to South Africa for treatement.
Harbhajan and Gambhir were rested along with Sachin Tendulkar for the tri-series.
Both Harbhajan and Gambhir had missed India's third Test against Sri Lanka due to injuries. PTI
