It has become a widely accepted belief that the tale of any Test series in India will be woven by the spinners only. And with the injury to the off-spinner Jack Leach , England seems to have got a massive setback as Jack Leach‘s absence will not only hurt the visitors but will make their spin department quite inexperienced.
Indian pitches and its nature due to the sub continental variations in climatic surroundings has always been a supporter of tracks that offer resistance more to the spinners than the fast bowlers. This is the only reason why touring SENA teams considers adding more spin options to their squads than the fast bowlers.
The England cricket team which is scheduled to tour on the Indian shores for a 5 match test series starting January 25 at Hyderabad have roped in 4 spinners for this tour . This includes the experience of Jack Leach, a test match old Rehan Ahmed, and uncapped duo in tests of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir.
Experience of Jack Leach to England’s aid in India
Jack Leach before embarking on this ambitious tour to India has played 35 Tests for England since his debut in 2018 and picked 124 wickets at an average of 34.2. He was sidelined for the entirely of last year’s Ashes at home due to a stress fracture in the back, which was diagnosed after he participated in England’s one-off Test against Ireland at Lords. But after regaining his fitness, the spinner is now all set to lead England’s charge with the ball in the upcoming five Tests against India.
Leach’s record in India is quite admirable, scalping 19 wickets in 5 matches, at an average of 32.42.Leach missed the entire Ashes series on home soil due to back injury as the selectors replaced him with Moeen Ali to which former England spinner felt that England missed the services of Jack Leach in Ashes 2023 due to which they were able to draw the series 2-2 at home and Australia regaining the famous Ashes urn.
However experts felt that Jack Leach role in the upcoming series of India would be only restrained to contain the Indian batters and not the strike bowler although he is set to lead the pack of spinners which includes Rehan Ahmed who has only one test vs Pakistan with a five wicket haul to his name and two uncapped spinners in the form of left arm spinner Tom Hartley and off spinner Shoaib Bashir.
First Test match and injury to Jack Leach.
England inflicted India’s first Test loss in Hyderabad as they eked out an unlikely 28-run win on Day 4 while defending 230. Jack Leach the most experienced spinner in the England squad was expected to lead the English spin attack, however the move backfired as the experienced spinner Jack Leach suffered an injury to his knee during the course of the match while fielding. However The Somerset spinner bowled only short spells in the first innings and sent down only 10 overs in the second, taking the crucial wicket of Shreyas Iyer.
England won the match on the basis of rookie Tom Hartley’s exceptional performance of 7-62 in the second innings and it was revealed that Jack Leach who suffered an injury during fielding resulted into Haematoma . He had his left leg heavily strapped in the second innings and his leg was swollen to an extend that he hardly could bowl in the second innings. This injury seems to have been escalated as Captain Ben Stokes confirms that Jack Leach wont be the part of playing 11 in the second test at Vishakhapatnam starting 2nd Feb 2024.
Off spinner Jack Leach will miss the 2nd test due to knee injury confirms English skipper Ben Stokes
England captain Ben Stokes confirmed that left-arm spinner Jack Leach will miss the second Test against India in Vishakhapatnam, starting on February 2. However, the all-rounder hopes the 32-year-old will feature in the final three Tests.
Leach, who is the most experienced spinner in the current squad, skipped the training session on Wednesday. This came after he suffered a knee injury during the first Test in Hyderabad while fielding last month. The Somerset spinner bowled only short spells in the first innings and sent down only 10 overs in the second, taking the crucial wicket of Shreyas Iyer.
Speaking at a presser, Stokes said, as quoted by BBC Sport:
“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,”
With Leach out of the second Test, it opens the door for the debut of Shoaib Bashir. The latter reached India amid the opening game in Hyderabad after his visa fiasco. It remains to be seen how the spin-bowling unit of less than 10 Tests will cope against India who is bolstered with the likes of a single spinner closing in on 500 test wickets.
Skipper Ben Stokes is confident of newbie Shoaib Bashir to deliver on his debut tour in India
Ben Stokes spoke about Bashir’s selection for the five-match Test series. He said that the 20-year-old’s height and the ability to produce natural variation along with revolutions on the ball made him a very compelling prospect. The 32-year-old said:
“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,”
“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,”
England inflicted India’s first Test loss in Hyderabad as they eked out an unlikely 28-run win on Day 4 while defending 230 and heading into Vizag with a 1-0 lead over hosts India. However they will still feel for the loss of experience in form of Jack Leach which would indeed turn as an opportunity for hurt Indians to change tables on them with Tom Hartley now leading the pack alongside Rehan Ahmed and debutant Shoaib Bashir.