England vs India 2018: Injured Alex Hales out of ODI series
England's Alex Hales has been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against India and is set to be sidelined from the game for at least three to four weeks.
The right-handed batsman had suffered a side strain during training and was initially left out of the playing eleven in the first ODI.
Hales was in prime form in the lead-up to the series, having scored a 91-ball 147 that rocketed England to the highest ever ODI total, against Australia just a month ago.
In the T20I series, he led the hosts to a win in the second T20I with an unbeaten 58.
The 29-year-old wasn't part of the side that lost the opening ODI game by eight wickets. Flattened by the spin of Kuldeep Yadav, who took a six-wicket-haul, the English side could manage only 268 in 50 overs.
Speaking ahead of the toss in the opening game, England captain Eoin Morgan had said:
"Unfortunate that Alex (Hales) has done his side. How long he is out we don't know. He is going for a scan this afternoon which brings Dawid Malan into the squad. With that change, Joe Root goes up to 3 and (Ben) Stokes at 5 which means we are where we were last summer around this time. Ben coming in has given us an extra option with the ball and it looks a balanced side".
Malan, the 30-year-old left-handed batsman was inducted into the squad. He's played T20Is and Tests for England but is yet to make his ODI debut.
After the loss, with the team being bamboozled by the guile of Kuldeep Yadav, Morgan admitted that his side was against a bowler who 'happened to be very good'.
"Considering there is only one left-arm (wrist-spin) bowler in the world it is not a huge concern. You play against one team and he happens to be very good, he is not any old left-arm (wrist-spinner).
The second game will be played at the Lord's on July 14.