England's Test captain Ben Stokes does not seem to be bogged down by the setback in form of hamstring injury that has ruled him out all all cricketing action for three months. Stokes will miss the India tour next year followed by the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. The veteran all-rounder claims that he has plenty left in the tank and will make a comeback after injury.
While Joe Root returned to ODI squad after a long gap of over a year. Stokes would have made a comeback too under the all-format coach Brendon McCullum but the hamstring he tore in the third and final Test of the series against New Zealand led to him missing out on the opportunity.
Stokes is set to undergo surgery in January 2025. It will be followed by rehabilitation.
"Something else to overcome…go on then!!!!!!!!" Stokes wrote on his X account.
"I’ve got so much more left in this tank and so much more blood sweat and tears to go through for my team and this shirt.
"There’s a reason I have a Phoenix permanently inked on my body
"See you on the field to f*** some s*** up".
Stokes to miss this T20 League
Stokes had expressed that he will play in the SA20 League but that is not an option now. He was picked up by MI Cape Town in the SA20 League. He had decided against putting his name for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction as well.
The star all-rounder will be seen in action on the international stage again when Zimbabwe play England in a four-day game in May. It will be followed by Test series against India at home starting in the latter half of June 2025.
Stokes on bowling workload
Despite the injury setback, Stokes is not willing to decrease his bowling workload.
"I have to work so much harder on the physical side of the job to allow me to go out and do my job but I got a good amount of overs in during the last two games and I am more confident about getting through a lot of spells in a day," the 33-year-old said after the series win against the Kiwis.
"That is where I got to before I pulled my hamstring. I bowled nice in the summer, had a setback but now feel out of that and not worrying about anything else happening again. As you get older you think about your body a bit more but I work harder because I have to."