England spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test tour of India with a knee problem.

The 32-year-old, who has taken 126 wickets in 36 Tests, subsequently missed the second Test in Vizag.

Leach will now fly home and England currently have no plans to call up a replacement for Leach with the third Test in Rajkot starting on Thursday.

England will instead keep faith with inexperienced spin trio Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir, plus Joe Root, for the remainder of the five-match series.

Left-arm spinner Leach had only just returned to the side having missed last summer’s Ashes series against Australia with a stress fracture in his back.

The Somerset player has endured a series of health and injury issues which have hampered his England career.

The series is level at 1-1 with three games to play.