MANCHESTER: With England seemingly reliant on Ben Stokes with bat and ball, the struggling skipper insisted “pain is just an emotion” as he plans to take to the field for his side’s fifth and deciding Test against India this week.
The England captain struggled with cramp in his left leg and was feeling his shoulder as the hosts failed to bowl India out in their second innings at Old Trafford on Sunday and had to settle for a fourth Test draw.
Stokes took his first five-wicket haul for eight years in India’s first innings, an impressive feat given his recent injury issues.
“It’s just a workload sort of thing,” Stokes told reporters after the draw with India left England leading 2-1 in the five-match series.
“We got a fair amount of overs and everything starts creeping up on you. I’ll keep trying, keep going and as I say to all the bowlers: pain is just an emotion. “I’ll always try to run through a brick wall for the team.”
Stokes revealed he had hurt his bicep tendon, with his injury niggles the result of a taxing workload that has seen him already send down 140 overs in four Tests – the most he has ever bowled in a series.
However, Stokes, the leading wicket-taker of the series, is optimistic of taking to the field at the Oval on Thursday as England try to seal a 3-1 series triumph.
“Hopefully I will be alright going for the last one,” he said. “I am doing everything possible to be alright. It’s been a big five or six weeks, I’ll always try to give everything I possibly can.
“I don’t want to eat my words, but the likelihood I won’t play is very unlikely.”
India showed great character to battle to an unexpected draw, given they are a young team. Shubman Gill, 25, is playing his first Test series as captain following the retirements of Indian greats Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Coach Gautam Gambhir reserved special praise for his skipper, who became only the third captain to score four hundreds in a single Test series to help his side salvage a draw.
“These are characters who are sat in the dressing room wanting to fight for their country,” Gambhir told reporters.
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“I don’t believe in something like transition. It is still an Indian team. It is only experience and inexperience. Being under pressure, batting five sessions against an attack like England, will do so much for them.
“An important thing is he (Gill) is living up to his expectations and his talent. When he goes into bat, he goes in as a batsman, not a captain.”
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