Jack Leach sustained the injury during Day 1 of the series opener in Hyderabad during India's batting innings. He fell on the outfield and ended up jarring his left knee. 

The spinner soldiered on despite the pain and bowled a total of 36 overs in the entire match in short spells, claiming two wickets in England’s 28-run victory. After the completion of the first Test, he was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the series.

England lose key spinner to injury for the rest of India series

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday, 24 February, Leach disclosed the extent of his injury and the need for surgery.

"I'm going to have an operation to get the rest of the swelling out because it's not budging," Leach revealed. "I obviously knocked it a few times throughout that game and it has just created a long period of recovery. I need to get the operation done and then hopefully I can get back to playing cricket.

“I'd love to have a run of playing cricket and getting into a bit of a rhythm again and hopefully that can happen again once I've got this sorted."

Leach, who has accounted for 126 wickets in his 36 Test appearances so far, also missed last summer’s Ashes series due to a stress fracture of the back.

In his absence, England relied on the likes of Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, and Shoaib Bashir to lead their spin bowling attack in the India series. However, they dealt with another blow after young spinner, Ahmed, had to return home due to an urgent family matter ahead of the fourth Test.

India are leading the five-match series 2-1, with the fourth Test ongoing and growing increasingly exciting in Ranchi.