Manchester [UK], July 28 : England Test skipper Ben Stokes provided a fitness update on his hamstring injury, which he got while batting during the third day of the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 against India, which was played at Old Trafford in Manchester.
While batting on Day 3 of the Test match, Stokes faced some problems as he had issues with his hamstring. He went back to the dressing room for the treatment and later returned and played a captain's knock as he scored 141 runs from 198 balls, which was laced with 11 boundaries and three maximums in his innings.
Speaking on his fitness during the post-match press conference, Stokes told the media, "Mentally, decent. Physically, been better. It's just something that's just been sort of stirring away. It's been a pretty big workload so far in the series. Another big week last week at Lords with time spent out in the middle with batting the hand and obviously overs bowled, and then the same again this week. Said it a few times to the guys out there. Pain is just an emotion. So yeah, just one of those things."
Speaking more on his injury, the cricketer added, "It's actually my bicep tendon. I've obviously had a considerable workload throughout it. It's just been creeping around. A lot of time out in the middle doing my job as an all-rounder this week and just got a little bit flared up, but I'll obviously keep going and didn't get any worse throughout the day, just stayed the same. That's why I kept going. Hopefully, it settles down and we'll be good as gold for the last game."
Further speaking, whether he would be available for selection in the fifth Test of the series, the all-rounder said, "I think you look at how long we've been out in the field and the overs that we bowled as a bowling unit. Everyone's going to be sort of pretty sore and pretty tired going into the last game of the series. I think there'll be an assessment of everyone, and hopefully we can use the next two to three days' rest period wisely and then make a decision on them. These recovery days are going to be pretty important, and yeah, we might have to make a few decisions to get some fresh legs in. But again, that won't be decided until we get closer to the last game."
Recapping the Manchester Test between the two sides, stellar centuries from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the second innings guided India to secure a draw in the fourth test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England at Old Trafford, Manchester on Sunday.
India batted for more than five sessions to save the Manchester Test. India, at the end of the final session on Day 5, was 425/4, with Jadeja 107* and Sundar 101* unbeaten at the crease. The duo added 203 runs for the fifth wicket.
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