AHMEDABAD: England all-rounder Ben Stokes will undergo surgery on his left knee after the World Cup and hopes to return for their tour of India at the beginning of the next year.
On the eve of England’s clash against Australia, Stokes revealed that he will undergo knee surgery to cure a problem that has regularly hindered his performance on the field of cricket.
Stokes didn’t go into detail about his knee injury but is expected to miss England’s tour in early December and is likely to return to action for the India series.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Stokes will miss five to seven weeks of on-field action and Doctor Andy Williams who is a leading knee surgeon in London, will perform the surgery.
“I will hopefully be fine for the Test series [against India]. I am having surgery after the World Cup. There was a lot of time put into deciding when to get it done. The India Test series, which we start at the end of January, I should be fine to go by then,” Stokes said ahead of Australia clash as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
“When we go to those meetings, we generally take a physio and doctor and they start talking. I just turn up, go to sleep, wake up and hope it is better. They use language that I’ve never heard before. There’s obviously something that needs to be operated on,” Stokes added.
The 32-year-old has been unable to bowl in the World Cup as well as the Indian Premier League for his franchise Chennai Super Kings. He spoke about how the knee issue has been affecting his performance and he is looking forward to playing the role of a bowler.
“It’s been a big hindrance on me, and affected what I can do for the team. Obviously that [being an allrounder] is what I want to be doing. You’d hope that it means that I can get back to doing what I’ve been known for, which is playing a role as a batter, and playing a role as a bowler as well,” Stokes said. (ANI)