England opener Alex Hales ruled out of India tour

Team England have received a major blow as their opener Alex Hales has been ruled out of the remainder of India tour. As per the recent reports in BBC, Hales had injured his right hand during the recently concluded Cuttack ODI. Soon after the match, the hard-hitting opener was taken for scans. The scan results showed a fracture to his right hand. The intensity of the injury is still yet to be known. The English team camp has not disclosed the details of the injury yet.

However, the departure of 28-year-old batsman will certainly hurt England in the remainder of their India tour. They are yet to play the last of the three ODIs which will be followed by a 3 match T20I series. Coming into the performance, Alex Hales had largely underperformed in the last two matches that he played on the tour. Hales ran himself out in the first ODI at Pune and then was dismissed cheaply in the Cuttack ODI too. Despite the string of low scores, the fact cannot be ruled out that Alex Hales has been an integral part of England’s limited-overs setup.

The swashbuckling opener has been forming a formidable pair with Jason Roy for England. It was this opening duo that had been instrumental during England’s successful World T20 campaign last year in India. Moreover, considering the longer run where the Champions Trophy will be played later this year, the match practice on India tour would have come in handy for the opening batsman. In his absence, Sam Billings is most likely to make his way to the playing eleven for the third and the final ODI at Kolkata.

Billings showed great form with a score of 90 odd during the warm-up fixture. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) mentioned that they will announce the replacement of Alex Hales for the T20I series sometime soon. The T20I series begins on January 26. Hales is now set to return back to England on Saturday this week. Apparently, it was during the Indian innings when Hales had hit the ground hard while attempting a catch. He will be meeting a surgeon next week.