Morgan to miss India ODIs due to injury; Buttler to lead

England captain Eoin Morgan will miss the remaining One-Day International (ODI) against India in Pune. Jos Buttler will lead the team as a result. Morgan suffered a split webbing between his thumb and index finger during the first ODI. As far as middle-order batsman Sam Billings is concerned, he will certainly miss the second game, but could be available for the third ODI and a decision of if or not he will play the final game of the tour will be made in due course. 

Liam Livingstone, who has not played for England since 2017, will make his ODI debut on Friday (March 26). Dawid Malan, who was roped in as a reserve for the series has been added to the squad and will be available for selection for the remainder of the series. Livingstone, who has played two T20Is for England, scored 426 runs in the recently-concluded Bib Bash League (BBL) season at 30.42, which included three fifties from 14 innings. 

While Morgan, who required four stitches after suffering a split webbing, did train at the MCA on Thursday (March 25), Billings on the other hand is recovering from a bruised collar bone did not go through the drills.

Speaking of the injury, Morgan said, “I had the hand re-dressed before the start of training today but it quickly became apparent that I found myself protecting the injury and getting into the wrong positions to catch the ball," according to a release from ECB.

“There’s nowhere to hide on the field in international cricket these days, especially in limited-over formats so it didn’t require any great thought to make myself unavailable. It was a freak injury and it’s extremely frustrating but there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s now just a case of letting the cut heal. I have every confidence in Jos and the rest of the squad coping without me,” he added. 

England are 1-0 down in the three-match series, after suffering a 66-run loss in the first ODI.