Blow to England ahead of 3rd ODI, Alex Hales rules out due to injury; Bairstow to replace

Bairstow was supposed to leave for England after the third ODI from Kolkata but now will stay back for the T20 series as well.

By: Score Keepers |
January 21, 2017 4:24 pm

After getting hurt in the second ODI against India in Cuttack, English all-rounder Alex Hales has been ruled out for the rest of the series. Hales has fractured his right hand during the 2nd game. Replacing Hales, wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow has been included in the upcoming three-match T20 series against India.

Bairstow was supposed to leave for England after the third ODI from Kolkata but now will stay back for the T20 series as well. Bairstow had a wonderful time during the 5-match test series against the hosts. He scored a total of 325 runs in 5 matches with an average 44. He also hit three half centuries in the past series.

Earlier in the past two matches, Bairstow couldn’t get a chance to show his excellence as Jose Butler was already included in the Playing XI. While Alex Hales could crack the deal in a better way as he just scored 23 in two innings and dismissed early in both the games.

Apart from Bairstow, England has other alternatives in the form of Sam Billings to fill the gap left by Hales. After the Kolkata ODI, the teams will travel to Kanpur, Nagpur, and Bengaluru for the three T20I games.