Jack Leach, an England spinner, will have knee surgery—quite an unfortunate one

Jack Leach, an English spinner, said on Saturday that he will have surgery after a knee injury that prevented him from playing in the current test series in India.

During England’s first test triumph in Hyderabad, Leach injured his knee twice while fielding, and the 32-year-old was unable to play in the last two games as India rallied to take a 2-1 series lead.

Leach said to BBC Radio 5 Live, “I’m going to have an operation to get the rest of the swelling out because it’s not budging.”

“That was really a bad one. I was playing the whole game with this knee issue since it was the second ball of the first inning in the field.

“Obviously, I banged it a couple times throughout the game, and it simply caused a lengthy healing process. After the procedure is over, perhaps, I may resume playing cricket.

His county side, Somerset, starts their new season in April, but England don’t play another test series until the home summer when they visit the West Indies in July, just after the Twenty20 World Cup.

“Once I get this sorted out, hopefully, I can have a run of playing cricket and get back into a bit of a rhythm,” Leach said.

Shoaib Bashir, who has so far amassed figures of 4-84 in the first innings of the fourth test, has stepped up for the visitors in Leach’s absence. He tore through the top order to limit India to 219-7, trailing England by 134 runs.