Abu Dhabi, Jan 21, 2024
Right-handed batter Harry Brook will be missing England’s Test tour of India with immediate effect due to personal reasons, said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
It added that Brook, who was in England’s preparatory camp for the India tour at Abu Dhabi, will not be returning to India and that a replacement player will be named in due course. England are due to arrive in Hyderabad on Sunday, ahead of the first Test starting on January 25.
“Harry Brook is set to return home with immediate effect for personal reasons from the England Men’s Test tour of India. He will not be returning to 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. The England selectors will confirm a replacement player for the tour in due course,” said the ECB in its statement.
Brook has been one of the shining stars for England in the last one and a half years of playing Test cricket. He averages 62.16 from 12 Tests, scoring 1181 runs at a strike-rate of 91.76 including four centuries and seven fifties.
He had his breakout moment in England’s tour of Pakistan in December 2022, where he was adjudged Player of the Series for scoring 468 runs from five innings at an average of 93.60, hitting three centuries, including a superb 153.
England’s selectors might look to the batters in the England Lions squad, who are currently in Ahmedabad for a series against India ‘A’, for seeing who can be the apt replacement for Brook.
Captain Josh Bohannon, who scored a century against India A last week, James Rew and Dan Mousley are the other middle-order batting options. In the main Test squad, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes are middle-order batters who are also wicketkeepers.
India secured a 3-1 series win when the two teams last met in the country in 2021, after England had won the opening game. England are yet to lose a Test series under the Stokes-McCullum leadership group and will arrive in India to win the series since their remarkable 2-1 triumph in 2012.
Following the first game at Hyderabad on January 25, India and England will play other matches of the series at Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), Rajkot (February 15-19), Ranchi (February 23-27) and Dharamshala (March 7-11).(Agency)
