Harbhajan, Yuvraj

Calcutta: India’s Test series in England is turning out to be a real tough test.

Down 0-2 in the four-match series, it was already a tall ask for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men to counter Andrew Strauss’s army and defend their No.1 status. And things got further complicated for the visitors when on Wednesday the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh have been ruled out of the rest of the series with injuries.

Virat Kohli and Pragyan Ojha will be joining the Indian squad in England as replacements.

That Harbhajan, India’s principal spinner but terribly out of form, had suffered a muscle strain in the stomach and the condition of Yuvraj’s injured fore finger was not “encouraging” had been reported by The Telegraph in Tuesday’s edition.

“Yuvraj Singh has fractured his left fore finger, and Harbhajan Singh has a Grade I abdominal muscle strain,” the BCCI statement said.

“While Yuvraj’s injury may take around 4 weeks to recover, Harbhajan is likely to recover in 3 weeks’ time. The senior selection committee has picked Virat Kohli and Pragyan Ojha as their replacements. Both players will join the Indian team at the earliest,” the statement added.

However, with India’s limited overs campaign in England starting on August 31 (the one-off T20 tie), it is highly unlikely that the duo would recover in time to play a part. Yuvraj’s chances look bleaker since four weeks (his recovery time) from Wednesday will be exactly August 31.

Harbhajan had injured himself in the second Test, at Trent Bridge, and underwent a scan on Tuesday morning. The injury limited his role as a bowler in the Trent Bridge Test to just 13.4 overs. He’s also been in poor form, managing only two wickets in the first two Tests.

Yuvraj fractured his left fore finger on the fourth day at Trent Bridge while trying to fend a bouncer from Tim Bresnan. Bresnan’s delivery was short of a length and hit Yuvraj on the index finger of the left hand and he threw the bat away immediately, wincing in pain.

Ojha, who was set to join Surrey for the County Championship and the CB40 one-day competition, will now instead join the Indian side. Ojha will have to fight it out with leg-spinner Amit Mishra for a place in the playing XI for the third Test, in Edgbaston, which is scheduled to begin from August 10. But if the Indian think-tank decide to play four seamers, both the spinners will have to sit out.

Kohli was not at all impressive during his Test debut in the West Indies and was dropped from the touring party to England. However, Yuvraj’s injury has now provided him with an opportunity to rectify the flaws and make a mark in one of the most challenging series (and conditions) that the Indians have faced recently.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan’s injury will also rob him of a chance of completing 100 Tests, in this series. The offie is currently on 98 and if he would have played the remaining two Tests against England, he would have reached the landmark at The Oval. He will now have to wait for the series against the Australians later in the year.

The Indians are already plagued with injuries to Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom missed the second Test, in Trent Bridge. Zaheer is recovering from a right hamstring strain picked up during the first Test, at Lord’s after bowling just 13.3 overs.

Virender Sehwag, who landed in England on Wednesday morning, is also making a comeback from a shoulder surgery. Sehwag will straight head to Northampton for the two-day practice match against Northants, beginning Friday.