India vs England 2021: Stuart Broad, James Anderson And Jofra Archer Have Been Licking Their Lips - Ben Stokes On Pink Ball Test

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has revealed that his team fast bowlers Stuart Broad, James Anderson, and Jofra Archer have been licking their lips after the pitch’s behaviour in the nets session. England will have a good chance to win this Test with the lights coming on in the evening. The England bowlers relish bowling in the seaming conditions and the pink ball under the lights is really tough to play.

England will have a tough choice to pick up their fast bowling combination for the third Test as pacer Mark Wood has returned to the squad and Jofra Archer should have recovered to bowl in the nets. Olly Stone did really well in the second Test and troubled the Indian batsman with his shearing pace. The Ahmedabad pitch being relatively new doesn’t give a clue to the captain of how it will play in the match.

When The Lights Came On, The Nets Actually Got Really Dangerous: Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes mentioned the trio of Broad, Anderson, and Archer are raring to play the pink ball Test especially with the way the net sessions turned out. Stokes wasn’t sure if the pitch will stay the same during the Test as in the nets. He added that bowlers had to stop bowling to safeguard the players from any injury as the pitch looked really threatening for the batsman.

“Broady, Jimmy and Jofra have been licking their lips,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s been a completely different game. Whether that’s going to be similar in the middle we’re not sure.

“When the lights came on, the nets actually got really dangerous. The bowlers had to stop bowling in the nets because we were actually worried that some of the batters were going to get injured,” Ben Stokes added.

Ben Stokes Expects The Pitch To Assist Spin

Stokes believes that the pitch will turn at some point for sure and added that when it will start turning is going to be the question. In the second Test, the pitch started offering a lot of turn from day one which wasn’t ideal for the team losing the toss.

“It’s going to spin at some point, it’s just a question of when,” he said. “That’s always the case when we come here. We experienced it very early in the last Test, it might not be the case quite so much this time around.

“Playing against India in the subcontinent you expect the ball to spin. We have to make sure we are in the best place to manage that.

“If they (India) go in with a similarly balanced team we should be mentally prepared for that and we should have put the work in this week which, from what I have seen, the guys have certainly done,” Ben Stokes added.