India V England 1st Test: Is Zaheer Khan Hamstrung?

It is a definite ouch moment for the Indian team. It is the first match of the series, the Indians have a dual task of trying to evade a poor start as has been their wont in the past and maintaining their unbeaten run in the Test match arena, and they have put in their opposition after winning the toss.

Two wickets have fallen to a bowler, who is the only one to look like he would pick up the wickets and suddenly, they see him pulling up.

Zaheer Khan, one of the pillars of this Indian team, and someone who has played no small part in pushing them to the numero uno position, limped off the park on the first day of the series with an injury that is feared to be a hamstring-related. Ask any experts and most hamstring injuries are not only painful but take anywhere between four to six weeks to recover from.

If that is really the case – and there is no clarity yet – it means that Zaheer is out of the series, but more importantly, it also translates into India needing to find an inspiring bowling leader on the park. None of the remaining four seem capable of being termed as bowling deputies to the unit that is Zaheer, and it will not get any easy for India.

For now, the Indian camp is tight-lipped. There has been no update from the dressing room yet and one would like to believe that it is the case of tactics to not give the opposition an upper hand.

The last thing that the Indian bowlers would now want is for the sun to shine brightly on the second day and make batsmen feel like they only need to turn up at the park.

The second day of the first Test match between India and England at Lord’s will start earlier to compensate for the loss of play yesterday.