England have been dealt a major blow ahead of the fifth and final Test against India as their skipper Ben Stokes has been ruled out with a shoulder injury. Pacer Jofra Archer has been rested for the match at The Oval starting July 31.

England lead the series 2-1, but the absence of Stokes should encourage the visitors, who made a brilliant comeback in the second innings of the fourth Test at Manchester, to draw and stay alive in the series.

"I've got a decent tear of one of the muscles that I can't pronounce," Stokes told reporters on Wednesday. "Obviously, we took as long as we could to make that decision. Obviously, a bit of emotion is going into this kind of stuff when you find out what you've done.

"It's one of those where it was weighing up the risk reward, and the risk was way too high for damaging this any further than it currently is. I wouldn't expect to put any of my other players at risk with an injury like this," said the England skipper on the eve of the match.

ADVERTISEMENT

Stokes is likely to be out for at least six to seven weeks. In his absence, Ollie Pope will captain England and Jacob Bethell has been included to bat at No 6.

England have also made a host of changes by resting pacers Archer and Brydon Carse and spinner Liam Dawson. Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue have been included in the England XI for the match.

ADVERTISEMENT

England XI: ⁠Zak Crawley, ⁠Ben Duckett, ⁠Ollie Pope (captain), ⁠Joe Root, ⁠Harry Brook, ⁠Jacob Bethell, ⁠Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), ⁠Chris Woakes, ⁠Gus Atkinson, ⁠Jamie Overton, ⁠Josh Tongue

TAGS

Google News Add as a preferred source on Google
The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.