Watch: Ben Stokes resumes bowling ahead of Vizag Test against India

Ever since Ben Stokes became the captain of the England Test team, the left-handed batting all-rounder has won many matches for the team with his batting. However, there have also been instances when Stokes has struggled with his knee due to which he has not been able to bowl. Stokes underwent knee surgery in November last year and was found doing bowling practice ahead of the second IND vs ENG Test match in Visakhapatnam.

England have reached Vizag and has also begun their practice session at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. In a video tweeted by British daily ‘The Telegraph’ journalist Will Macpherson, Ben Stokes can be seen doing practice in the nets. The caption read, “Here we go.”, the British journalist quoted the tweet posted by him a day back when he informed that Stokes would be resuming to bowl after his teammate Joe Root overtook him in the Test all-rounders rankings.

His tweet read, “Ben Stokes will take his first steps back to bowling at England training in Vizag tomorrow. This comes after Joe Root overtook him in the Test all-rounder rankings.”

Watch: Ben Stokes resumes bowling in the nets

Here we go: https://t.co/30MJy5cb0c pic.twitter.com/NE7I2oKIWt

— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) February 1, 2024

Joe Root was England’s highest wicket-taker in the first innings of the Hyderabad Test and removed four Indian batsmen. Root also managed to pick 1 wicket in the second innings, making him the second most successful English bowler after debutant Tom Hartley. Root also received the prize for his brilliant bowling performance, and the cricketer known for his classic timing and strokes while batting, jumped to the fourth spot by overtaking his captain Ben Stokes.

Joe Root currently holds a total of 313 rating whereas, Ben Stokes is on the fifth spot with 307 rating points. Stokes last bowled in the ENG vs AUS second Test match at Lord’s in 2023. Stokes bowled a total of 15 overs in the match and managed to pick up 1 wicket. However, since then it has been 4 Tests when Stokes is yet to bowl an over. Stokes has picked up 197 wickets from 98 Tests at an average of 32.07. He has picked up four five-wicket hauls and his best performance is 6.22.

Ben Stokes was picked by Chennai Super Kings for INR 16.25 crore in the IPL 2024 auction. However, Stokes only played two games in that season and was ruled out of the tournament due to his injury. Later, Stokes made himself unavailable for the IPL 2024 auction as he was looking to gain full fitness ahead of the Test series against India. For his workload management, Stokes also announced his retirement from ODI cricket but he came back from it to play in the ODI World Cup 2023.

With the second Test all set to be played from February 2, 2024, Ben Stokes will be aiming to continue the winning run against India.