India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the ongoing four-match Test series against England due to an injury.
Jadeja sustained an injury during the Sydney Test against Australia last month. He had dislocated and fractured his left thumb, ruling him out of the last Test in Brisbane during India’s tour of Australia. He was expected to be out of action for at least two to three weeks.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not pick the 32-year-old for the first two Tests against England as he was at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for ‘further management of his injury’.
It was expected that Jadeja would join the India squad for the third and fourth Test matches. However, his recovery has been slow and he is unlikely to be fit for the remaining Test matches against England.
It is yet to be confirmed if he would be fit for the limited overs games against England later.
India lost the opening Test in Chennai by 227 runs following an underwhelming performance against England. The visitors lead the four-match Test series 1-0 after England’s mammoth first innings score of 578, thanks to captain Joe Root’s brilliant double century and crucial half-centuries by Dominic Sibley and Ben Stokes.
Bowlers James Anderson, Jack Leach and Dom Bess decimated India’s batting order in the second innings, and wrapped up the game for England.
India skipper Virat Kohli was criticised for his decision to not include Kuldeep Yadav in place of Jadeja and going with Shahbaz Nadeem, who had a disappointing outing with the ball.
“...when you are playing two off-spinners, Kuldeep more or less becomes a similar kind of spinner (bringing it into the right-handers). So, we needed variety. We were quite clear what combination we wanted to play, and there are no regrets whatsoever,” he said after the match.
