England skipper Ben Stokes has confirmed Jack Leach will miss the second Test match against India due to a knee injury. In Leach’s absence, Shoaib Bashir will make his Test debut for Three Lions. Leach was England’s pack leader in the spin department but had to bowl with knee trouble in the second innings.
Leach bagged a total of two wickets in the opening Test match at Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Leach had scalped 18 wickets in four Test matches against India on the tour of 2021.
Leach has scalped 126 wickets in 35 Test matches at an average of 34.4 and in his absence, it will be an inexperienced spin attack. But England will take a lot of confidence as Tom Hartley bagged nine wickets on debut at Hyderabad.
Ben Stokes said in the pre-match press conference, “The knock he took resulted in a haematoma. Hopefully, it does not keep him out for longer in the series. It’s a big shame for us, especially after a long time out of the game with his back. Obviously, it’s frustrating but it’s something we’re assessing every day.”
The England captain also backed rookie Shoaib Bashir to deliver for the team. Stokes revealed he saw a spark in Bashir’s bowling and has backed the youngster.
“I just saw something. The height he bowled from, it was very obvious that he put a lot of action, a lot of revolutions on the ball. It was something I looked at and thought ‘this could be pretty good for India’. The height he delivers the ball from, the amount of natural variation that he can produce, is a handful out here.
“When it came to selection of the squad, there wasn’t too much thought around him because everyone was very, very impressed with what Bash showed. Everything we wanted in our spin group was answered by Bashir.”
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from 2nd February.
