Jack Leach is set to have surgery on his left knee to remove the remaining swelling that cut short his Test tour of India. England’s left-arm spinner sustained the injury during the first Test in Hyderabad after jarring his knee on the ground while diving near the boundary on day one. The injury was exacerbated

India 219 for 7 (Jaiswal 73, Bashir 4-84) trail England 353 (Root 122*, Robinson 58, Jadeja 4-67) by 134 runs Shoaib Bashir spun India into the danger zone with a four-wicket haul that ensured England ended the second day of the fourth Test still 134 runs ahead and needing only three more wickets to secure

England 302 for 7 (Root 106*, Robinson 31*, Akash 3-70, Siraj 2-60) vs India A stirring century from Joe Root tempered Akash Deep‘s dream debut and pulled England out of trouble on an enthralling first day of what is a must-win fourth Test for the touring side in Ranchi. Root, who had copped criticism for

Rehan, the 19-year-old, featured in England’s first three Tests against India. He picked up 11 wickets at an average of 44, including a match-haul of 6 for 153 in Visakhapatnam. He was, however, left out of the England XI for the fourth Test beginning in Ranchi. It is understood Ben Stokes’ decision to omit Rehan

Big picture: Joe Root looks to bounce back England have not lost a Test series in the Bazball era. Of the seven completed series in this period, they won four and drew three. However, that could change over the next five days as India – after trouncing England by 434 runs in Rajkot – go

Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir will play the fourth Test against India as England roll the dice in this must-win game on a cracked Ranchi pitch. The pair, who will replace Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed, are the only changes from the 434-run defeat against India in Rajkot, which leaves England 2-1 down, desperate to

“It looked interesting, didn’t it? I don’t know. I can’t say much.” It was perhaps the most diplomatic answer Ben Stokes has given in India so far. Coming into this tour, England made a conscious effort not to moan about pitches. Just like any team at home, curating a surface on their own terms was

England are considering turning back to their one specialist quick approach for the must-win fourth Test in Ranchi, with Ollie Robinson set to make his first appearance of the tour. And they could also be boosted by Ben Stokes returning to his role as a seam-bowling allrounder. The tourists are yet to make a concrete

Brendon McCullum says he may have to hold Ben Stokes back from bowling in the ongoing series with India but admits it is “a good sign” the England captain is open to the possibility of reprising his allrounder role in the final two Tests. Stokes has been progressing his bowling throughout this tour following an

India 445 (Rohit 131, Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz 62, Wood 4-114) and 430 for 4 dec (Jaiswal 214*, Gill 91, Sarfaraz 68*) beat England 319 (Duckett 153, Siraj 4-84) and 122 (Wood 33, Jadeja 5-41) by 434 runs India needed such a day. Just to send the message out to those who had started believing they

Ben Stokes has called for the Decision Review System (DRS) to scrap umpire’s call after England were left bemused by Zak Crawley‘s second-innings dismissal in their defeat in the third Test against India in Rajkot. Crawley reviewed Kumar Dharamasena’s decision to give him out lbw to Jasprit Bumrah in the ninth over but left the

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, has promised that his team will park the disappointment of their crushing 434-run loss in the third Test in Rajkot, and move onto Ranchi later this week fully focussed on bouncing back to claim a 3-2 series victory. After challenging India hard over the first two days of the contest, England’s

Joe Root‘s dismissal, reverse-scooping Jasprit Bumrah straight to second slip to spark England’s collapse on the third morning in Rajkot, should be viewed no differently to him “playing a drive and nicking off”. That was the argument put forward by Ben Duckett, who defended his team-mate’s shot selection amid widespread criticism. Root has played the

England 207 for 2 (Duckett 133*, Root 9*) trail India 445 (Rohit 131, Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz 62) by 238 runs A sensational century by Ben Duckett, at 88 balls the third fastest against India in India, left the hosts shell-shocked after they once again left runs un-scored in their first innings of 445. There was

India 326 for 5 (Rohit 131, Jadeja 110*, Sarfaraz 62, Wood 3-69) vs England On the first day of the third Test, India’s batting finally came together but not without an early alarm. Down at 33 for 3 on a pitch that was full of runs and with two debutants to follow, India were looking

The ICC has banned Rizwan Javed, a UK-based club cricketer, for 17-and-a-half years – the second-longest sentence handed out by the ICC to date – after he was found guilty of five different breaches of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) anti-corruption code. Javed was among eight players and officials originally charged by the ICC in

Ben Stokes continued his return to operating as a fully functioning allrounder on Wednesday with a 20-minute bowling session in Rajkot, but will not bowl in England’s remaining three Tests in India. The England captain has been stepping up his bowling on this tour after an operation on his left knee at the end of

Mark Wood has been recalled to England’s attack at the expense of the offspinner Shoaib Bashir, as England confirmed their team for the third Test against India, which gets underway in Rajkot on Thursday. Wood played as a lone seamer in England’s victory in the first Test at Hyderabad but went wicketless on a surface

England have whittled their team for the third Test down to 12, with Mark Wood in line to regain his place in the XI on a green-tinged Rajkot pitch. The tourists have played just one seamer in each of the first two Tests, with Wood getting the nod in the first match in Hyderabad before

England encountered yet more visa trouble on their tour of India after Rehan Ahmed was stopped from leaving Hirasar airport, Rajkot, because he was not in possession of the right paperwork. Sportstar reported on Monday that Rehan had been prohibited from re-entering India after England’s mid-series break in Abu Dhabi because he only held a

It is understood Sultans wanted to replace Topley with South African quick Nandre Burger – who also had a stellar season in the SA20 – but was told by Cricket South Africa he wouldn’t be granted an NOC. They are believed to be considering Olly Stone, who played in the SA20 and the ILT20 recently,

Jack Leach has been ruled out of the rest of England’s Test series against India after failing to recover from a knee injury. The left-arm spinner damaged his left knee fielding on the opening day of the first Test in Hyderabad, diving to stop a boundary and colliding with the ground. He then exacerbated the

England have allowed Dan Lawrence to rejoin his team at the ILT20 while the squad is on a break in Abu Dhabi between Tests against India. Lawrence, who was called up to the Test squad after Harry Brook’s late withdrawal, had been a wildcard signing for Desert Vipers but only played one match for them

So, it’s back to the UAE England go, two Tests down and three to go. A peculiar 10-day gap in this schedule allows the team to retreat from the relentlessness of a five-match India series. Players’ families will be meeting them in Abu Dhabi, offering some comforts of home and an opportunity to shed the

Ben Stokes has questioned the DRS for giving Zak Crawley out lbw but does not believe it was the reason England lost the second Test in Visakhapatnam. India levelled the series 1-1 with victory by 106 runs on day four, bowling the tourists out for 292 in pursuit of 399. Just as in the first

India 396 (Jaiswal 209, Anderson 3-47, Ahmed 3-65) and 225 (Gill 104, Hartley 4-77) beat England 253 (Crawley 76, Bumrah 6-45, Kuldeep 3-71) and 292 (Crawley 73, Bumrah 3-46, Ashwin 3-72) by 106 runs Jasprit Bumrah, the fast bowler of our times, completed the job that he had begun in England’s first innings as India

India drew level in the five-match series with a 107-run win over England in Visakhapatnam, but the batting performance remains an area of concern. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a double-century in the first innings and Shubman Gill hit a hundred under pressure in the second, but no other batter could get a big score. Captain Rohit

It proved to be the case, but Ben Stokes says at no point did his side believe their lofty fourth-innings target in the second Test against India was too many. Still needing 332 of the 399 set by the hosts, captain Stokes and his team began the fourth day in Visakhapatnam with the trademark self-belief

England 67 for 1 (Crawley 29*, Duckett 28) and 253 need another 332 runs to beat India 396 and 225 (Gill 104, Axar 45, Hartley 4-77, Rehan 3-88, Anderson 2-29) Ludicrous though it may sound, the chase is on. No team has ever hunted down a target of 399 to win a Test match in

It meant, after bowling two overs to start the day’s play, England were short a bowling option. Nevertheless, they rallied to dismiss India for 255, with the inexperienced spin trio of Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir combining for eight wickets to limit England’s target to 399 to win in Visakhapatnam for an unlikely