Ben Stokes faces a race against time to prepare for England’s Test series in India in the new year after successful surgery to repair a chronic left knee injury.
Two weeks after returning from India’s failed World Cup campaign, Stokes on Wednesday confirmed on social media that he had undergone surgery at a private clinic in London.
The England Test captain, photographed outside Cromwell Hospital in Kensington, wrote: “In and out. Made under the knife. Rehabilitation begins now.”
Stokes has spent the last 18 months battling a problem in his left knee that he has been unable to publicly explain but is believed to be tendinitis. This severely limited his bowling ability, with him only managing to bowl 29 overs during the Ashes series draw against Australia that summer.
But towards the end of England’s India campaign, the 32-year-old expressed confidence that the operation would allow him to return as a proper all-rounder after it was announced that he would undergo surgery.
At this stage, it seems unlikely that he will be available for England’s five-Test series in India, which begins in Hyderabad on January 25. However, it remains to be seen whether he will be ready for the start of the series.
Stokes previously admitted his recovery would take five to seven weeks. England will head to the United Arab Emirates for a pre-season training camp on January 11, six weeks later, before heading straight to India.
Stokes said of his post-World Cup delay: “When you go to the best people in their field, unfortunately they are very busy people.”
Stokes was operated on on Wednesday by Andy Williams, considered the best in his field and who has previously carried out successful knee operations on footballers Virgil van Dijk and John Terry, as well as renowned cricketers Andrew Flintoff and Chris Woakes.
On his chances of being ready for Team India, Stokes said at the end of the World Cup: “I have to be ready,” he said.
“I’ve done a lot of hard work outside of cricket to give myself the best chance of a quicker recovery, and with Christmas coming up and everything else, the most important thing for me is that I’ve sorted out this knee and it’s going well.” . Ready for work. for this test series in India.”
Stokes, who turned down his £1.65m contract to play in the Indian Premier League next year to prioritize his fitness ahead of next summer, added of the procedure: “I never know, the body might be in much better shape than now. has been in the last 18 months.”
Source: I News
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