Jack Leach, 32, will undergo surgery on his left knee after suffering an injury
The bowler has been ruled out for the remainder of the Test series in India.
Leach was sent home from the England camp in Abu Dhabi due to his knee injury.
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England spinner Jack Leach will undergo surgery on his left knee after suffering an injury during their Test series in India.
Leach was taking part in his first Test series since missing the Ashes when he suffered an on-field injury that caused his knee to swell.
Leach, who completed the first Test and missed the second, was sent home from the England camp in Abu Dhabi, where they were having their mid-season break.
Speaking about his injury, Leach said: “I’m going to have surgery to remove the rest of the swelling because it’s not going away.”
He went on to talk about the situation in more detail, telling BBC 5Live: “It was quite unfortunate.”
England spinner Jack Leach will undergo surgery on his left knee after suffering an injury during their Test series in India.
Leach was taking part in his first Test series since missing the Ashes when he suffered an on-field injury that caused his knee to swell.
‘It was the second ball of the first innings on the field, so I played the whole game with this knee problem.
“I obviously hit him a few times during that game and that created a long recovery period.”
“I need to have surgery and then I hope I can play cricket again.” “I would love to get back to playing cricket and get my rhythm back a bit and I hope that can happen again once I get this sorted.”
That means the turn will now be left in the inexperienced hands of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, with Rehan Ahmed returning home for personal reasons earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Joe Root is expected to be fit to back them up after damaging the little finger on his right hand during the second Test loss in Visakhapatnam.
The 32-year-old returned home from England’s camp in Abu Dhabi, where they have been taking their mid-series break.
It is desperate news for England’s only experienced slow bowler in Leach, who was returning in the first Test after missing the entire Ashes with a stress fracture in his back suffered during last summer’s first Test against Ireland.
Unfortunately, Somerset’s slow left arm is no stranger to absences induced by injury or illness. Most seriously, Leach, who suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition that weakens his immune system, contracted sepsis so severe during England’s tour of New Zealand in 2019 that he felt like he was going to die.
This latest setback is also a hard blow for England. Leach has been a favorite of captain Ben Stokes and had become a key figure in the Bazball era playing in every Test under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum until injury occurred last year.