India vs England: Zak Crawley ruled out of first two Tests with wrist injury

The right-handed Crawley has 616 runs from 10 Test matches, including one hundred and three fifties. He had a poor tour of Sri Lanka with scores of 9, 8, 5 and 13. England skipper Joe Root said in the pre-match media briefing that the visitors have multiple options for the No. 3 position.

Young England batsman Zak Crawley on Thursday (February 4) was ruled out of the first two Tests against India after sustaining a freak wrist injury on his 23rd birthday. Crawley, who turned 23 on Wednesday, had slipped on the marble floor of the Chepauk dressing room, thereby injuring his wrist. 

“Following the results of last night’s scan, England top-order batsman Zak Crawley has been ruled out of the first two Tests of the India versus England series,” the England Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement. 

“Scan results have confirmed that Crawley has jarred his right wrist, which has sprained the joint and led to local inflammation. The England medical team will continue to assess his progress over the next few weeks,” it stated. 

The right-handed Crawley has 616 runs from 10 Test matches, including one hundred and three fifties. He had a poor tour of Sri Lanka with scores of 9, 8, 5 and 13. 

With Rory Burns returning to the side, Crawley was expected to bat in the No. 3 position. England skipper Joe Root said in the pre-match media briefing that the visitors have multiple options for the No. 3 position. 

“There are a number of different options we can opt for. That is exciting part of it because we have got a number of different players who can bat in different roles. It will be silly to write anything right now. Jos Buttler though will be keeping wickets,” Root said. 

Ollie Pope, who has recovered from shoulder surgery and was added to England squad on Wednesday, is likely to return to the middle-order. 

England skipper Root said Crawley's injury was frustrating as well as unfortunate. "Yeah, it's really frustrating and really frustrating for Zak in particular, real freak incident (the) way (it happened)," Root said. "Walking out the change between slipped over and landed on his wrist, so hard for him to take specially at the back off, trying to get as best prepared as well possible for this series and of course...

"...It means, we have to look at things from a selection point of view. I think from as a more general saying I think everything's on the table in terms of selection one way, and we get to the ground, look at the conditions, look at the surface again and try and have real clarity going into the game," he added.