England opener Zak Crawley was on Thursday ruled out of the first two Test matches against India after sustaining a wrist injury.
Crawley, who turned 23 on Wednesday, slipped on a marble floor outside the dressing room at the Chepauk cricket stadium during training ahead of the four-match series, starting on Friday, AFP reported.
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“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,” a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed.
“Scan results have confirmed that Crawley has jarred his right wrist, which has sprained the joint and led to local inflammation.”
His progress will be assessed by the team’s medical staff over the coming weeks, it added.
“It’s really frustrating and frustrating for Zak in particular,” captain Joe Root told reporters. “It was a freak accident and hope it’s the last one,” he said, adding the team has taken precautions by putting towels on the floor.
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Root did not confirm who will replace the fast-rising batsman from Kent.
The right-handed opener has 616 runs from 10 matches, including a century, a 267 against Pakistan in Southampton in August, and three fifties. He had a poor run of form against Sri Lanka in the recent series with scores of 9, 8, 5 and 13.