The much-anticipated five-match Test series between India and England is set to commence from June 20. The first match will take place at Headingley in Leeds and will also kick-off the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The series will also see the Men in Blue playing a Test without both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the playing XI after a very long time. This comes after both of them announced their retirements from the format last month.
Stokes feels that India will miss Kohli's presence in the team
Ahead of the first Test, England captain Ben Stokes showered praise on Kohli and stated that India will be missing his fighting spirit and competitiveness throughout the upcoming five-match assignment.
"I think what India will miss will be his fighting spirit out in the game, his competitiveness, desire to win. He has made number 18 his, hasn't he? It'll be a bit weird not seeing number 18 on the back of anyone… of any Indian shirt, but he has been class for them for a long period of time," Stokes said in a video released by England cricket.
Stokes also revealed that he had texted the India great after he had announced his retirement and had told him that it will be a shame to not play against him in the series.
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"I did text him, saying it's going to be a shame not to play against him because I love playing against Virat. We both love playing against each other because we have that same mindset when we are out in the field that it's a battle,” Stokes stated.
“He has been incredible and he deserves sort of I'm sure no doubt there's been a lot of praise for him over in India. There's definitely been praise from players over here and you know he's done really well against England so yeah, he has been a class player.” he added.
With Rohit and Virat not active in the format anymore, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named Shubman Gill as the side's new captain in red-ball cricket. Despite the 25-year-old having never captained the Men in Blue in Tests, he will be expected to perform well both as a batter and leader straight away. It will be interesting to see if the newly-appointed captain can guide India to their first Test series triumph on English soil since 2007.