Jofra Archer ruled OUT of England's second Test against India
Jofra Archer ruled OUT of England’s second Test against India due to an arm injury with Joe Root’s selection plans thrown into disarray as he tries to manage his squad’s workload
- Jofra Archer will miss England’s second Test with India in Chennai due to injury
- Sportsmail understands it’s unrelated to the stress fracture Archer suffered with
- The 25-year-old is to be held back for the third Test, to be played in Ahmedabad
- It leaves Joe Root with a selection headache as he looks to rotate his players
Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the second Test against India in Chennai due to an arm injury.
The Sussex fast bowler did not attend England’s training session on Thursday and with just three days between the first and second Tests of a four-match series, the tourists are taking no chances.
The 25-year-old is to be held back for the third Test, to be played under the floodlights in Ahmedabad from February 24.
Jofra Archer will miss England’s second Test against India in Chennai due to an arm injury
Sportsmail understands the problem is not related to the stress fracture of the elbow that ruled Archer out of all but the first Test of a two-month tour of South Africa last winter and is being treated as a ‘niggle’.
Stuart Broad was set to be recalled for the match starting on Saturday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium but the subsequent Archer development complicates the tourists’ selection plans as they plot a seventh straight win overseas.
One of the options England were contemplating was for Broad to replace James Anderson, England’s bowling match winner on Tuesday when he returned a brilliant reverse swing spell of three for six that plunged India towards a 227-run defeat.
Despite that stunning performance, England are committed to long-term planning as they attempt to navigate through 17 Tests in 2021, which has meant the 38-year-old and his regular new-ball partner Broad being kept apart in Asian conditions so far this winter.
Archer wore a ‘sleeve’ bandage on his right arm while bowling in his first Test for six months
Broad started in the first of the year but Anderson blew away Sri Lanka’s batting with six wickets in the first innings of the second in Galle and kept his place to return match figures of five for 63 against Virat Kohli’s team.
It is the kind of form to merit retention once more but no decisions on a final XI have yet been made and Root and England coach Chris Silverwood will consider multiple combinations on Friday.
Ideally, they would want an express pace option in Warwickshire’s Olly Stone in the absence of both Archer and Mark Wood, who is resting back in the UK after featuring twice in Sri Lanka last month.
Joe Root and England are committed to ensuring bowlers are rested during a hectic schedule
Chennai’s pitches are notorious for breaking up, creating uneven bounce for the fast bowlers in addition to lavish turn for the spinners.
Archer, who sported a long ‘sleeve’ bandage on his right arm while bowling in his first Test for six months, produced a devastating new-ball spell that rattled openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and left India two down early in their reply to England’s 578 last weekend.
He then roughed up Ravichandran Ashwin with a bouncer barrage before lunch on the fifth morning and completed victory by taking the final wicket of the match shortly after afternoon drinks.
As Anderson showed, however, the SG ball also offers reverse swing as a potent weapon deep into matches and he is England’s primary exponent of the art.
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