Zaheer out of second Test

NOTTINGHAM, England, (Reuters) – England  paceman Chris Tremlett is a fitness doubt for the second test  which starts today while opponents India will be without  their number one swing bowler Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer sustained a hamstring injury on the first day of his  team’s first-test defeat at Lord’s and India are hoping he will  be fit to return for the third game in the four-match series in  Birmingham next month.

Tremlett bowled briefly in practice on Thursday morning  before pulling out of the session with a hamstring problem. He  then managed a handful of deliveries off one stride on his  return before leaving again. “He has this hamstring niggle,” England captain Andrew  Strauss told reporters at Trent Bridge.

“We are very confident he will be fine but because there is  such a short turnaround in between the two test matches we might  have to wait until tomorrow morning until we are 100 percent  sure one way or another.”

Chris Tremlett

All-rounder Tim Bresnan, left out for the first test, is  standing by to replace Tremlett. “Tim Bresnan certainly has not let anyone down when he’s  played for us,” Strauss said.
“He was outstanding in Australia in the winter and I think  he is getting better and better so in many ways he is  unfortunate not to be playing at the moment.”

 RANKINGS BATTLE       

The underlying prize from the test series is the battle for  number one status in the world rankings.

Number three England need to win by at least two tests to  leapfrog South Africa and topple top-ranked India.

“The number one situation is very secondary to us winning  the series,” Strauss said. “Having gone 1-0 up, if we can make  it 2-0 here obviously we will be in a brilliant position.”
India are likely to replace left-armer Zaheer with  Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.

“It’s always good to have Zaheer in the side because he’s  our most experienced bowler especially when it comes to England  where he played county cricket,” said captain Mahendra Singh  Dhoni.

“It’s a bit disappointing not to have him in the 11 but this  is something that is beyond our control.”

England: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan  Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior,  Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett or  Tim Bresnan.       

India (probable): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Abhinav  Mukund, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS  Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant  Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.