IND vs ENG: Confirmed! Ben Stokes not to bowl in Test series vs India

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IND vs ENG: England Test team captain Ben Stokes will play as a specialist batter and will not bowl in the 5-Test series against India from January 2024, England's managing director of cricket Rob Key confirmed.

Ben Stokes recently underwent a surgery on his his left knee. The gun all-rounder has been hampered significantly by his chronic knee problem for almost two years now. He did not bowl in the Ashes 2023 after the fourth day of the second Test match in Lord's. He came out of ODI retirement to feature in the World Cup 2023 but did not bowl at all.

"In and out Under the knife done Rehab starts now," Ben Stokes has recently written on X after undergoing the knee surgery.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the squad announcement, Rob Key declared Ben Stokes' knee surgery successful. He said the plan of not allowing him to bowl in India was part of the process of to bring him back to rolling his arm in future.

"His surgery has been a success, we are expecting him to be fit but we are not expecting him to be able to bowl," said managing director of England men's cricket Rob Key.

"We never had him down to be bowling in India. This is part of an ongoing process in terms of getting him back to bowling."

Ben Stokes has also opted to not play in the IPL 2024 to manage his fitness and workload management. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) confirmed the development recently.

"England Test captain, all-rounder Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness," CSK said in a statement on their website on Thursday.

"The Chennai Super Kings management is supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a 5-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024," the statement added.

England squad for Test series vs India: Ben Stokes, James Anderson, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson*, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir*, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley*, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood. (* indicates uncapped players).