V. Sehwag has been ruled out of the ongoing ICC [ Images ] Twenty20 [ Images ] World Cup in England [ Images ], ahead of India’s second match against Ireland in Nottingham on Wednesday.

An official announcement in this regard is likely to be made by the team on Tuesday evening, said a team source. After missing the entire practice session on Monday, the dashing batsman was able to bat for only five minutes during Tuesday’s nets session.

The 31-year-old opener, the source said, would soon return home to undergo a surgery on his troublesome shoulder. Sehwag picked the injury during the second edition of the Indian Premier League in South Africa  and it aggravated soon after the team’s arrival in England.  The injury forced captain M S Dhoni to gamble with Rohit Sharma at the top of the order, along with the other regular opener, Gautam Gambhir, in the two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Pakistan before the tournament.

And in Sehwag’s absence the 22-year-old Sharma played a superb knock of 80 off 53 balls in the nine-wicket win against Pakistan in what was India’s final practice match. Sharma also opened during India’s opening match against Bangladesh and helped the team make a good start.Even though he regularly missed practice sessions owing to his injury, Sehwag was in the news, mainly for his reported rift with Dhoni. Since the media reported about the alleged rift, Team India is carrying an issue with the latter, Dhoni terming the reports “false and irresponsible”.

The entire Indian team turned up at a pre-match press conference at Trent Bridge on Friday in a “show of unity”.