England skipper Ben Stokes has been woefully out of form in the current India series, which was evident during the final Dharamshala Test as well. In the 10 innings in the series, he could only score 199 runs, highlighting his struggles on pitches that offered some assistance to the spinners.
Stokes, R Ashwin’s Bunny
In fact, in the entire series, he just had one fifty to his name, returning with scores of 70, 5, 47, 11, 41, 15, 3, 4, 0, 2. Out of those dismissals, India’s R Ashwin removed Stokes twice — once in Hyderabad Test’s second innings, and the second time in Dharamshala, in the second innings.
The number is significant, since this was Stokes’ 13th dismissal against the Indian spinner, creating a new record for most dismissals against a bowler in Tests. The Indo-English duo got past the record of Kapil Dev, who had dismissed Pakistan’s Mudassar Nazar 12 times in his career.
Stokes’ Poor Batting Form
Stokes’ struggles with the bat have continued since the Ashes 2023, where he last scored a Test ton, 155 at Lord’s. Since then in the last 15 innings, he has only managed three fifties, that has taken a toll on the England batting line-up.
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