Jack Leach has emerged as England’s first injury concern on their tour of India after picking up a knee problem that saw him hampered during a tough second day for the tourists in Hyderabad.
The 32-year-old is the one experienced spinner in England’s ranks but was visibly struggling during India’s march to 421 for seven and a first innings lead of 175 runs. Though Leach is returning from the lower- back stress fracture that ruled him out of last summer’s Ashes, an awkward tumble on the first evening caused this latest issue.
“He banged his [left] knee, the first dive down at fine leg, then he banged it again today,” said Jeetan Patel, the former New Zealand spinner who serves as England’s assistant coach. “It’s giving him a little gyp to be honest. It must be pretty serious, or serious for him anyway, because the reality is he wouldn’t shirk that responsibility.”
Leach sent down 16 overs across six spells on day two but none lasted more than four, a concern for a side already looking outgunned by their opponents in the spin department. Shoaib Bashir, 20, is the spare spinner in the current squad but is yet to arrive in India, having only just had his visa approved back in the UK.
Patel continued: “It’s a bit of a shame from where Jack’s come [the back injury] – to dive on one at fine leg and all of a sudden you’re hobbling around. [But] he is one of the strongest guys in the team. It’s about being smart as well. We’ve got four Tests to go and another innings at the back end of this game. We need a key man like Jack. I believe he’ll be back in the fourth innings.”
A fourth innings in this game is not a given and England’s ability to take 20 wickets is already shaping up as a head-scratcher. Beyond Leach, who did keep the run-rate down during his efforts, they have two relative novices in Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, with Joe Root’s off-breaks looking the most threatening.
Hartley did fare better on day two, picking up two wickets following a chastening start to his Test career the evening before, when his first ball was struck for six by Yashasvi Jaiswal and his first nine overs leaked 63 runs.
“Jack was the one that got round him,” said Patel. “After 10 minutes of ‘that was hard’ to where he [Hartley] was this morning was fantastic. It was a tough [second] day but I think the effort the guys put in was immense. If you walked into the ground and didn’t know the score, you’d almost think we were right on top of the game.”
