Sehwag to leave for South Africa with Dhoni, Tendulkar

Mumbai:

Dashing opener Virender Sehwag changed his original plan to leave for South Africa with four other Indian cricketers on Monday due to viral infection and he will depart on Wednesday, Cricket Board sources said on Tuesday.

"Sehwag pulled out late as he was not well, down with viral infection, and will be leaving tomorrow morning with eight other cricketers and manager Ranjib Biswal," a BCCI source said.

"Those who are to leave tomorrow apart from Sehwag are captain (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, Sachin (Tendulkar), Harbhajan Singh, (Pragyan) Ojha, (Shantakumaran) Sreesanth, Wriddhiman Saha, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and manager Ranjib Biswal," the source said.

"Today Rahul (Dravid) departed for South Africa from Mumbai while VVS Laxman left from Hyderabad," the source said.

The remaining members of the Test squad, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Murali Vijay who are busy playing the ODIs against New Zealand that conclude on December 10, would leave on December 12.

The first batch of the touring party, comprising players Cheteshwar Pujara, Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav, left on Monday along with coach Gary Kirsten.

The three-Test series against South Africa commences on December 16 at Centurion.