England batsman Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the 1st Test against India, hours before the start of the play. The series opener of the much-anticipated tie will kick off on August 4 (Wednesday) at Trent Bridge.

Pope suffered a grade three quadriceps tear during a run of five T20 games in the space of eight days during Surrey’s T20 Blast group stage run-in, immediately after a period of self-isolation after he was a close contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

Ollie Pope Ruled Out Of The 1st Test Due To Injury, Jonny Bairstow Might Get Chance In The Playing 11..#IndvsEng #EngvsInd #EngvInd

— The Cricverse School (@cricverse) August 4, 2021

The injury ruled him out of their last two Blast games, two County Championship fixtures – meaning he has not played a first-class game since the second Test against New Zealand in early June – and the early stages of The Hundred.

While he was confident to make it in time to be available for Wednesday’s encounter but he was running against time. And now, Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the first Test against England after failing to clean the fitness test on Tuesday.

Also Read: England vs India 2021: 1st Test – Match Prediction – Who Will Win The Match?

Jonny Bairstow to replace Ollie Pope in the playing XI

Meanwhile, white ball specialist Jonny Bairstow is all set to replace Ollie Pope in the playing XI. Bairstow would add experience to the middle order and with Ben Stokes missing that gives him an advantage over Lawrence who did score 81 in his last Test against New Zealand.

Bairstow has not played red-ball cricket since the end of the Test series in India where he made three ducks in four innings and his career in this format looked over. But he has been in good form in white-ball cricket and will see this as a chance to prove wrong those who wrote him off after the India series.

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