England spinner Jack Leach will be undergoing knee surgery to recover from an injury that ruled him out of the final four Tests of England’s series against India in the subcontinent. Leach was part of England’s impressive 28-run win at Hyderabad and took a wicket in the match. But he suffered an injury in the match and was replaced by youngster Shoaib Bashir in the second Test. Leach had to fly back home from a mid-series break in Abu Dhabi to continue his recovery. “I am going to have an operation to get the rest of the swelling out because it is not budging,” Leach told BBC Radio 5 Live as quoted by Sky Sports.
Leach revealed that he played the whole game with a knee problem.
“It was quite an unfortunate one. It was the second ball of the first innings in the field so that whole game I was playing with this knee problem. I obviously knocked it a few times throughout that game and it has just created a long period of recovery. I need to get the operation done and then hopefully I can get back to playing cricket, he added.
“I would love to have a run of playing cricket and getting into a bit of a rhythm again and hopefully that can happen again once I have got this sorted,” he concluded.
The 32-year-old has been plagued by injuries and health issues since his England debut back in 2018. The first Test against India was his first Test appearance in months since suffering a stress fracture back in June last year.
England did not name a replacement for Leach and have been doing well in spin bowling without the experience of Leach, with youngsters Tom Hartley (18 wickets in four matches), Rehan Ahmed (11 wickets in three matches), Shoaib Bashir (eight wickets in two matches) doing really well for Three Lions. Joe Root’s part-time spin bowling has also helped England, who has picked seven wickets so far in four matches. They have all outdone the Indian spin superstars Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
India is leading the series 2-1.
Coming to the fourth Test, England was bundled out for 353 runs in their first innings after electing to bat. India had reduced England to 112/5, but Joe Root (122* in 274 balls, with 10 fours) roared back to form with 31st Test century. Also, handy contributions came through from wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes (47 in 126 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and Ollie Robinson (58 in 96 balls, with nine fours and a six), with both stitching century stands with Root.
Ravindra Jadeja (4/67) was the pick of the bowlers for India while it was debutant Akash Deep (3/83) who stole the show with his opening spell. Mohammed Siraj (2/78) was also good with the ball.
In the second innings, India ended the day two at 219/7, with Dhruv Jurel (30*) and Kuldeep Yadav (17*). Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his red-hot form with a knock of 73 in 117 balls, with eight fours and a six. Shubman Gill also scored 38 in 65 balls, with six fours. Spinners Shoaib Bashir (4/84) and Tom Hartley (2/47) dominated Team India and the Three Lions lead by 134 runs.
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