Finger spinner Jack Leach is likely to miss the second Test against India in Vishakhapatnam, starting Friday. The left-armer jarred his left knee while fielding during England’s thrilling 28-run win over India in the series opener at Hyderabad last week. He aggravated the injury later on in the same match, bowling with a swollen joint and took out the wicket of Shreyas Iyer in the second innings.
Leach sat out the side’s first training session held on Wednesday. Speaking about his availability, Zak Crawley said the team would take the final call depending on his condition before the game.
“He is a tough kid, Leachy, so I’m not sure. You can never really write him off. We’ll see how he pulls up in a couple of days,” said Crawley to reporters.
Leach’s injury means England may not be able to execute their plan of playing four spinners in Visakhapatnam, with uncapped off-spinner Shoaib Bashir likely to get a debut in case the senior spinner is not fit in time for the second Test.
Bashir has played just six first-class matches and has 10 wickets to his name. He arrived in India during the Hyderabad Test after visa issues owing to his Pakistani heritage forced him to return home to London and get the visa there.
“He has got a lot about him. He knows what he is trying to do with his bowling, and he backs himself. I like that and feel like if he got his chance in this series he would go well” added Crawley.
Though England have a 1-0 lead in the five-game series, but Crawley, who was a member of the 2021 touring party winning the opening game in Chennai, before suffering a slide to lose the series 3-1, isn’t taking India lightly.
“Whoever they pick, they’re going to be a very good team. They’re a top side in their own conditions. There are four games left and we need to stick to what we do well. Hopefully, the results come from there but we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We’re preparing for this one like it’s the first game, we’re staying where our feet are and we’ll see where that takes us,” he further said.
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