(Cricket News) The England team was scheduled to arrive in Hyderabad on Sunday, ahead of the first Test starting on Thursday. However, Harry Brook has withdrawn from the team to tour India for personal reasons. As a result, he will not be joining the team for the start of the five-Test series. Instead, England has called up Dan Lawrence to replace Brook.
Despite being officially ruled out of the entire tour, many sources state that Brook could still return at a later time. The ECB said in a statement: “Harry Brook is set to return home with immediate effect for personal reasons from the England Men’s Test tour of India.
The Brook family respectfully requests privacy during this time. In light of this, the ECB and the family kindly request the media and the public to respect their wish for privacy and refrain from intruding on their private space.”
After making his debut in the final Test of 2022 summer, Brook averaged 62.15 at a strike rate of 91.76 from 12 appearances, with four hundreds. He was briefly promoted to No. 3 during the Ashes, after Ollie Pope suffered a series-ending shoulder injury, before Moeen Ali moved up as a stopgap.
Pope is fit to return in India, so England will have to rethink their middle order. The loss of Brook will be a major blow to their hopes of becoming the first team to win a Test series in India in over a decade.
Lawrence, the spare batter with the Test squad last summer, had only recently arrived in the UAE for the ILT20 after a stint at the Big Bash League, but he will make his way to India in the coming days.
Lawrence’s last Test appearance came in March 2022, on the tour of the Caribbean, shortly before the dual appointments of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes as coach and captain helped to revitalize the side. With Brook’s absence, England may opt to utilize Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batter once more, filling the void at No. 5.
The England Lions squad currently in India has a number of backup options as well; Josh Bohannon, in particular, impressed with a century in Ahmedabad earlier this week.
On Monday, the team will train at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Prior to the tour, they have been acclimatized for the last ten days in Abu Dhabi.
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