DTVHINDI
The England team has suffered a big setback before the start of the Test series against Pakistan. In fact Captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan. 33-year-old Stokes, who was sidelined from this series since the beginning of August, is still not able to recover from the injury. Stokes suffered a hamstring injury in The Hundred tournament.
In the absence of Stokes, Ollie Pope can now take charge of England. Pope was also the captain of England in the series against Sri Lanka and it was under his captaincy that England won the Test series 2-1. Stokes could not play in the Test series against Sri Lanka due to this injury.
Ben Stokes does not want to take risks regarding his fitness
According to the report of ESPN Cricinfo, Stokes is not willing to take any risk, because England has to play 6 Test matches this year. His eyes will now be on playing in the second Test, which will start from October 15. In the absence of Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes will be seen playing his first Test in Asia since 2016. Along with this, the debut of Bryden Kars is also certain.
Stokes worked hard in England’s training session. He batted in the nets and faced the throwdowns from the spin bowlers as well as the England coaching staff. At present he is completely alert for his recovery. Stokes has scored a total of 6508 runs in 105 Test matches for England so far, which includes 13 centuries and 34 half-centuries. Apart from this, 208 wickets have been taken.
England’s playing XI for the first test against Pakistan
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.
