Two days after the England and Wales Cricket Board excluded former skipper and all-rounder Ben Stokes from the upcoming India tour and the Champions Trophy 2025, new reports suggest Stokes has been ruled out of all cricket for at least three months.

Stokes suffered the injury during the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton earlier in December and is still recovering.

Ben Stokes’s absence from the upcoming England tour to India and the Champions Trophy is a major setback, not only for the player but for the entire team. Stokes was last seen playing in the 50-over format during the 2023 World Cup, held in India.

What Stokes said:

According to Cricbuzz, Ben Stokes exuded confidence in his body after the Hamilton Test, where his side won the series 2-1.

Stokes said, as quoted by Cricbuzz, “I have to work much harder on the physical side of the job to allow me to go out and do my job, but I got a good amount of overs in during the last two games, and I am more confident about getting through a lot of spells in a day.

“That is where I got to before I pulled my hamstring. I bowled well in the summer and had a setback, but now I feel out of that and am not worried about anything else happening again. As you get older, you think about your body a bit more, but I work harder because I have to,” he said.

Stokes’ episodes with injuries:

This is not the first time Stokes has been injured and is out of the English squad despite being one of the finest all-rounders of all time.

In October 2023, Stokes suffered knee surgery soon after the World Cup, which took him some time to recover. During the tournament, too, England could not fully use his services.

In August 2024, Stokes suffered a similar torn hamstring, ruling him out of the remainder of the English summer. To recover fully, he opted to sit out of IPL 2024 and even didn’t put his name up in the mega auction.

In December 2024, he suffered a left hamstring injury in the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton.

Stokes will now be missed in England’s tour to India and ICC Champions Trophy 2025. In his absence, the ECB has named Joe Root skipper of their 15-member squad.