Ben Stokes Contemplates Ending 8-Month Hiatus in Desperate Move to Revive England’s Cricket Fortunes

After losing the second and third Tests, England has wasted a 1-0 lead in their current five-match Test series in India. England was praised for their fighting spirit in the thrilling second Test in Visakhapatnam, but they came under heavy fire for their surrender in the third. The greatest margin of victory by runs for India in a Test match occurred when England lost to India in Rajkot by 434 runs. India would win the series if they lost the fourth Test in Ranchi, and it appears that Ben Stokes, the captain of England, is prepared to go above and beyond to keep his team in the series, even if it meant going back to bowling earlier than planned.

“I’m not responding positively or negatively. Being me, I’m usually really upbeat about most things. Regarding bowling in the fourth Test, Stokes stated, “That will be a more detailed chat with the medical team about what workload I have done to pass myself off as not being a massive risk.” The 32-year-old revealed previously that he had given his physiotherapist a “pinky promise” that he would not bowl through this series as he was recovering from knee surgery. Stokes, nevertheless, stated that his return to bowling for a living in Test matches has gone “a lot faster than I thought it would.”.

Stokes said that he felt relatively good despite training at 100% intensity during the Rajkot Test. During one of these warm-up days, I was able to bowl at 100%, which gave me a good feeling. Although it would have been foolish, I thought I could have bowled during the game.” England’s bowling lineup will be much more balanced with Stokes’ ability to bowl. The visitors entered with a pitifully inexperienced spin attack. In the first two Tests, players like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were nearly matched, if not outclassed, by Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, and Shoaib Bashir; however, in the third Test, they were largely humiliated. In addition, England had to bench one of their spinners in order to add a second pacer, which meant that Bashir had to play James Anderson and Mark Wood in Rajkot.

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Brendon McCullum, the head coach, expressed confidence that Stokes won’t take the field unless he truly believes he is ready. The former captain of New Zealand did, however, say that it’s encouraging that Stokes is even considering going back to bowling. “Well, it’s good that he’s actually getting into a state where he thinks he might bowl,” McCullum stated. “But Ben is not only brilliant; he’s incredibly smart. If he doesn’t believe he can bowl legitimately, he won’t bowl. The issue arises if he begins to cast a spell and is unable to break out of it. So let’s see what happens. In the event that he does get that bit between his teeth, let’s try to pull him away from it and assess where the danger is. However, it’s encouraging,” McCullum remarked.