England head coach Brendon McCullum has delivered an worrying update on Jack Leach’s knee injury. The England spin spearhead was forced to sit out the second Test against India in Vishakhapatnam as his team suffered a 106-run loss.
He suffered the injury while fielding on the very first day of the series-opener in Hyderabad. Despite the injury, he managed to bowl for England and helped them register a memorable 28-run win. In his absence, Shoaib Bashir made his debut in the second Test. And while it was expected that Jack Leach would recover in time for the third Test, there is a chance that he could miss the upcoming Test as well.
Delivering an update on the spinner’s knee injury, McCullum stated that the knee is ‘still pretty inflamed and pretty bad’. McCullum also praised the bowler for bowling in the first Test despite the injury, calling it a remarkable effort.
“It is still pretty inflamed, but I don’t really know because he (Jack Leach) has been a crook,” McCullum told Belfast Telegraph.
“His knee is pretty bad though, and it was remarkable he got through what he did in the first Test match,” McCullum added.
England lack experience without Jack Leach:
England’s spin department lacks experience in the absence of Jack Leach. The other three spinners have played a combined 6 Tests between them. While Rehan Ahmed has played 3 Tests so far, Tom Hartley and Bashir have played 2 and 1 Test respectively.
England will be desperately hoping that Leach recovers quickly and lead the spin attack once again. With more a week remaining before the third Test gets underway, Leach will be fancying his chances to recover in time. The tourists will be keen to bounce back after losing the second Test.
Chasing 399 runs, England came up with a fighting performance but were bowled out for 292 runs. The third Test of the five-match series is scheduled to be played from February 15 in Rajkot.