England captain confirms absence of senior spinner but confident that rookie can step up
Vithushan Ehantharajah31-Jan-2024Ben Stokes has confirmed that Jack Leach will not be available for the second Test in Visakhapatnam after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained during the first Test.Leach hurt his knee fielding on the first day of the Test in Hyderabad, before exacerbating the issue on the second morning. Though restricted to short spells for the rest of the match, Leach managed to bowl 10 overs in the second innings and dismissed Shreyas Iyer as England sealed a famous 28-run win.It was hoped the issue – a deep bruise – would settle down, but constant swelling meant Leach was unable to take part in the training session on Wednesday at the ACA-VDCA cricket ground. Wearing compression tights, he was still laboured in his movements.Stokes will wait until Thursday to name his XI, with a decision to make on whether England go with an extra seamer after one final look at the pitch. On Wednesday, however, he confirmed Leach, having just returned from a lay-off due to a back stress fracture, would miss out.”He’s ruled out of the second Test,” Stokes said. “Unfortunately, the knock he took resulted in a haematoma in his leg. It’s a big shame for us, a big shame for Jack, obviously after a long time out of the game with his back.”To sustain that injury, first game back, obviously it’s frustrating. But it’s something we’re assessing every day. The medical team have taken over that, and hopefully, it’s not something that’s too serious and keeps him out for longer in the series.”Waiting in the wings is Leach’s Somerset team-mate, Shoaib Bashir. The uncapped offspinner arrived in India during the first Test after a delay in his entry visa. Now back among the group and training, Stokes urged Bashir to seize the opportunity, in what would be only his seventh first-class match.”If he was to play on this tour, then the great thing he has on his side is, what is there to lose?” Stokes said. “That is how I will be thinking about it, if he gets the chance to play: just to make sure I can give him the best experience I possibly can. Because you only play your first Test match once. If he does play, then I will be trying to make it as enjoyable and fun for him as I can.Bashir looks on from the England corner after his late arrival in India•AFP/Getty Images”Myself, Baz [Brendon McCullum] and Popey [vice-captain Ollie Pope] will probably have a longer think about it. We looked at the wicket; I gave it a tap, and a play-around to make it look like I knew what I was doing. Bash is in the squad, we haven’t brought him here to have an experience. If we feel we want to turn to him, we will.”Having returned to London from the UAE to get his visa resolved, Bashir landed in Hyderabad at 8.25am last Sunday – day four of the first Test – before showering and heading straight to the ground. Stokes was buoyed by his enthusiasm to get back among the squad.”I mentioned to Wayne [Bentley, the England team manager] that Bash doesn’t have to stay here if he doesn’t want to. But he was like, ‘no, no, I’m staying for this.'” Bashir was rewarded with a thrilling finale, as fellow newbie spinner Tom Hartley took 7 for 62 to bowl India out for 202 in pursuit of a target of 231.Related
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“It was great for him to see that on his first day back in the camp and to see what Test cricket can bring out, and what it is like,” said Stokes. “He would have seen it on TV before but to be in the dressing room and see the emotion as well I think was great for him. He knows what it is like and hopefully it wants to make him do it even more.”Stokes also revealed his first exposure to Bashir came about through social media, bowling an impressive spell to Alastair Cook on his first-class debut for Somerset against Essex. Though Bashir would only take one wicket across 49 overs in the match, Stokes was already hooked, and sent it on to McCullum and managing director Rob Key.Jack Leach and Ben Stokes take a breather•Getty Images”To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” Stokes said. “The first time I saw him was on Twitter. I think the County Championship [account] put a little clip together of him bowling against Sir Alastair.”I’m in a WhatsApp group with Keysy and Baz. I actually did forward the clip on and said, ‘have a look at this, this could be something we could work with on our India tour’ and it just progressed from there. He got selected on the Lions tour and obviously the coaches on that tour fed back everything to us.”Should Bashir make the XI, it would be an even bolder call than Hartley’s inclusion for the series opener considering the Lancashire spinner had 14 more first-class matches under his belt before receiving his maiden cap. Bashir’s overall record is a modest 10 wickets at 67 from six appearances.But Stokes, having led his third debutant spinner to a five-wicket haul, after Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed’s hauls in Pakistan last winter, believes Bashir has the tools to achieve similar success in these conditions.”I just saw something,” he said. “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. I’ve played a lot of games out here. As a batter you know what is hard to face, especially from a spin point of view.”When it came to selection, there wasn’t too much thought around him to be honest, because everyone was very, very impressed with what Bash showed. And everything we wanted in our spin group was answered by Bashir.”