"Ben Stokes will not play Test cricket again.."- Michael Vaughan drops thunderbolt revelation

Michael Vaughan has made a worrying prediction for England captain Ben Stokes as the star allrounder gears up to lead his side in the highly-anticipated five-Test series against Team India. The series is scheduled to get underway on Thursday (January 25) in Hyderabad.

Many believe that the series will be Ben Stokes’ toughest challenge as a captain so far. England have not won a Test series in India since the 2012/13 season while India have not lost a series at home since that defeat against the English outfit. No team has even managed to challenge India in their backyard in the last decade or so.

On the other hand, Ben Stokes has not lost a single Test series since taking charge of the team in 2022. Under his captaincy, England have defeated the likes of India, New Zealand, and South Africa at home in addition to drawing the Ashes last year. England also registered a historic 3-0 win in Pakistan last winter.

And ahead of the start of the IND vs ENG Test series, Michael Vaughan has said that Ben Stokes might not play a Test at 100 percent fitness again. At the same time, the former England captain also stated that the team will need the services of the all-rounder even if he is not fully fit.

“He may never play Test cricket at 100 percent fitness again, but England need him at 90 percent after his operation because his batting and captaincy are so vital,” Michael Vaughan wrote in his column for the Telegraph.

Michael Vaughan’s advice to Joe Root:

England’s fortunes in the series will depend a lot on how Joe Root performs and Michael Vaughan has come up with an important piece of advice for him. The former cricketer-turned-commentator has urged the star batsman to not become overly aggressive and rather approach his batting with maturity.

“Another hope of mine is that Joe Root does not get sucked into playing overly attacking cricket. I want him to play exactly as he did in 2021 when in Sri Lanka and India, he made three huge scores. That is what England need from arguably their greatest-ever player of spin,” Michael Vaughan said.

Root impressed with the bat during the tour of Sri Lanka and India in 2021. In Sri Lanka, he scored 426 runs in 2 matches at an average of 106.50 and a strike rate of 65.63. He scored 2 centuries including a knock of 228 runs. In India too, he was the highest run-scorer, scoring 368 runs in 4 games with the help of 1 century.