Cape Town: The Indian cricket team yesterday (Nov 27,2006)  suffered a serious setback when captain and batting mainstay Rahul Dravid was ruled out of the remaining two matches of the one-day series against South Africa due to injury and the Cricket Board decided to rush in V V S Laxman for the final outing.

Virender Sehwag, himself not in form, was named the captain for the next two one-dayers.

Dravid's injury could not have come at a worse time for the team, which has hurtled from one humiliating defeat to another on the tour with most of its top-order batsmen struggling for runs.

Dravid, who topscored with 63 in the third match here yesterday, sustained the injury on his middle finger in the right hand while attempting a catch.

Virender Sehwag, who himself has just come out of a finger injury and is struggling for runs, will lead the side at Port Elizabeth on November 29 and Centurion on December 3.

The Indian Cricket Board, which had initially said that no replacement would be flown out for Dravid, changed its mind and decided to send stylish middle-order batsman VVS Laxman to shore up the batting.

Laxman, who was overlooked for the one-day series with selectors stating that he was unfit for the shorter version of the game, is making a comeback to the one-day fold after a gap of nearly one year.