England captain Ben Stokes has opined that India is missing Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma in the upcoming Test series as they have retired from Test cricket. However, Shubman Gill has been appointed captain, and he will lead the relatively young Indian side as well. However, Ben Stokes put an end to the narrative of ‘India being weakened’ by the absence of Kohli, Ashwin and Rohit as well.
“There’s been a lot said about no Rohit, no Virat and no Ashwin, that doesn’t mean that we think it’s going to be any easier than what it ever is against India. The pool of talent that Indian cricket has is just ginormous,” Ben Stokes told the media during the pre-match press conference.
However, R Ashwin was the first to retire during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. Rohit, India’s Test and ODI captain, retired from red-ball cricket last month, and Kohli did the same soon after as well. And, Stokes said that any team would look weak when players like Ashwin, Kohli and Rohit retire one after the other, but he also believed that India continues to produce high-quality players regularly.
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“Although Virat, Rohit and Ashwin have done amazing things for their country on the field, that doesn’t mean that whoever comes in to replace those individuals are going to be any less hard to bowl at or bat against, just because of how big the pool of talent is in India,” he shared.
“We’ve spent a lot of time out at the IPL, so I know that there’s a lot of it. Obviously, three massive names, three people who have done wonderful things for their country, but it is not going to be any easier for us because of those three big names out there,” Ben Stokes further added.
Stokes also acknowledged Jasprit Bumrah will be a big threat to the England batting line-up but he also added that his side won’t be focused entirely on handling the Indian ace.
“Bumrah leading their attack, he’s a fantastic bowler but there (are) 11 players on the team, and it takes a team to win a game of cricket. But we know Bumrah is an amazing bowler all around the world. His record shows that, wherever he goes, he does well. We know Bumrah is going to be a threat, but we know that every other bowler that India has is also going to be a threat. Focusing on one individual over another isn’t what we’re going to be doing, but obviously, you pay respect to your opposition, and Jasprit Bumrah certainly is a fantastic bowler,” Ben Stokes concluded.
