The ECB have announced that star batter Harry Brook will miss the five-match Test series in India for personal reasons. In a statement released today (January 21), the ECB said, “Harry Brook is set to return home with immediate effect for personal reasons from the England Men’s Test tour of India.*”

The ECB statement said that a replacement for Brook will be named soon: “The Brook family respectfully requests privacy during this time. In light of this, the ECB and the family kindly request the media and the public to respect their wish for privacy and refrain from intruding on their private space.

Brook was originally named in the 16-man squad for the series in what would have been his first Test tour of India. He has previously played a Test series in the subcontinent, against Pakistan in 2022, where he starred with the bat, scoring 468 runs in five innings including three centuries and one half-century.

Brook’s absence will be a major blow for England given how he has been one of the flag-bearers of their aggressive approach with the bat in the middle order. He is also considered to be one of the better players of spin and would have had a big role to play in the five-match Test series.

Surrey middle-order batter Dan Lawrence has since been named as Brook’s replacement. The 26 year old, who moved to south London from Essex at the end of the 2023 summer, has played 11 Tests, averaging 29 with four fifties. He has experience in the subcontinent, making 73 and an unbeaten 21 on debut in Sri Lanka, and contributing 96 runs across both innings on a turning track in Ahmedabad.

The first Test of the series starts in Hyderabad on January 25 and will be followed by the second Test in Visakhapatnam, third Test in Rajkot, fourth in Ranchi, and fifth in Dharamsala.

*The ECB statement initially stated that Brook would not be returning to India. That line has since been removed.

Updated England squad for India Test series

Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood, Dan Lawrence.