England Captain Ben Stokes warns his teammates about taking the Indian team lightly, who are now without their veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
England captain Ben Stokes, speaking in a video posted by the England and Wales Cricket Board, talked about how India could still be threatening even without their legends. He emphasized that India’s battery of batters needs to be handled by the bowling unit with proper planning and execution. He also spoke about Virat Kohli and his retirement from the longer format, stating that India will miss his presence and aggression on the field.
First, while speaking about India’s batting unit, Stokes made it clear that he is not ready to take them lightly:
"One thing about India is their battery of batsmen; it is just incredible. The time I've spent in the IPL, they've got batters coming out of there... can't say a word on this in this interview but you know what I mean," said Stokes.
He further added that even without Kohli and Rohit, the young Indian team has incredible talent that could certainly pose a threat to his teammates in this series:
"You can never take any Indian team lightly, even if the fact that they are without two of their great batsmen."
Stokes mentioned that the onus would be on his bowlers to put India under pressure in the opening Test.
Ben Stokes about the long summer ahead
Speaking about the upcoming Test matches—starting with the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, which is ongoing—Stokes said it will be a long summer, and the Zimbabwe game would help set the tone for the five-match Test series against India:
"It's going to be a long, tough summer. Five Test matches always is—always is against India as well—and tomorrow (the one-off Test against Zimbabwe) is the start of the tone setting."
Ben Stokes on Virat Kohli Retirement
Talking about Virat Kohli’s retirement, Stokes said he’ll miss Kohli’s presence on the field, and that it’s a shame not to be facing him in the upcoming series. Kohli’s iconic stature and competitiveness have played a big role in India’s success over the years. Stokes added that he personally would miss competing against him:
"What India would miss maybe is his fighting spirit out in the game, his competitiveness, desire to win.
He's made No.18 (jersey) his, hasn't he? So, we haven't seen No.18 on the back of any Indian shirt.
It's going to be a shame not to be playing against him because we both, playing against each other, we both have the same mindset on the field.
He's been incredible. No doubt there's been a lot of praise for him in India—there's definitely been praise for him from players here.
He's done really well against England... he's a class player."
Currently, England are going berserk against Zimbabwe, having scored 492/3* with four more overs left in the day’s play, powered by centuries from Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, and Ollie Pope.
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