England captain Michael Vaughan is resigned to missing the entire three-test series against India because of a persistent knee problem.
Despite flying home to have more treatment on his right knee because of an injury that forced him to have surgery in December, Vaughan is confident his career isn't over.
The problem flared up again last week and forced him to miss England's eight-wicket loss to an Indian Board President's XI in Vadodra.
"I certainly won't rush back," the England captain told Sky Sports on Tuesday. "If it is possible in three weeks I can come back and play the one-day games I will do that, but I certainly won't do that if there's any chance I could end up like I did."
The first Test starts at Nagpur on Wednesday, followed by Mohali, starting March 9, and Mumbai, starting March 19.
Although England officials say Vaughan has so far only been ruled out of the first Test, the captain's comments suggest he is likely to miss all three, with just the one-day series to follow.
"It's the second time in two tours that I'm going to be traveling home with an injury. This one is really similar to the one in Pakistan," Vaughan said.
"Unfortunately the workload has increased on this trip and the knee hasn't withstood that. It's time to go back and see the specialist, do whatever we can and make sure I come back fitter."
Despite speculation that the injury might mean the end of his career, Vaughan said he was confident of returning to the sort of form that helped England win the Ashes series against Australia last year.
{{/usCountry}}Despite speculation that the injury might mean the end of his career, Vaughan said he was confident of returning to the sort of form that helped England win the Ashes series against Australia last year.
{{/usCountry}}"I'm very optimistic and enthusiastic about the game of cricket and I certainly won't rule myself out of playing cricket again in the future," he said.
"There have been better players with bigger injuries than this one that have come back. I remember Glenn McGrath a few years ago had nine or 10 months out of the game, and Shane Warne had 12 months out of the game with a shoulder injury.
"They seem to have come back pretty well, so I'm very optimistic I will play a part in the game, hopefully sooner rather than later."
Vaughan is one of three Ashes stars who will miss the first test. Marcus Trescothick, who would have led the team in Vaughan's absence, went home after the game in Vadodra to deal with a family matter and paceman Simon Jones is flying home with a knee injury. Allrounder Andrew Flintoff will be captain.
Batsmen Alistair Cook and Owais Shah and paceman James Anderson have flown to India for the test series from the England 'A' team, which is in the West Indies.