England could be without their spin spearhead Jack Leach for the upcoming second Test against India, according to reports. The visitors are leading the five-match series after winning the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad.
And they could be forced to change the winning combination for the upcoming game as Jack Leach is in a race against time to be fit for the crucial clash. According to English news outlet The Independent, the left-arm spinner sat out the first training session in Visakhapatnam, the venue for the second Test. He did not take part in the net practice on Wednesday (January 31).
While he did join his teammates on the ground, it was once for receiving treatment on his left knee injury. Jack Leach suffered the injury on the very first day of the first Test when he jarred his leg while fielding. The injury only aggravated with the passage of the game he tried to play through the pain. The report stated that the bowler was limping on Wednesday as his teammates trained for the game.
“He’s a tough kid, Leachy, so I’m not sure. You never know with Jack,” said England captain Ben Stokes said. “You can never really write him off. We’ll see how he pulls up in a couple of days.”
Jack Leach’s replacement:
While recent reports state that England are keen to field an all-spin attack for the second Test, their plans could be hampered by Jack Leach’s injury. And in case, he fails to recover in time, England could hand a debut to young spinner Shoaib Bashir.
In Jack Leach’s absence, England’s spin attack will be quite short on experience. Rehan Ahmed has played just two Tests so far while Tom Hartley made his debut in the first Test. Hartley starred on his debut, taking 7 wickets in the second innings to power his team to a monumental win.
Meanwhile, India have also suffered a couple of big injury blows ahead of the second Test. They will be without KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja for the game after both the players suffered injuries in the series-opener. The selection committee has added Washington Sundar, Saurabh Kumar and Sarfaraz Ahmed to the squad for the second game.
