Watch: Ben Stokes falls to Axar Patel as he gets dismissed by a spinner again
Ben Stokes became the latest English batsman to fall to India’s spinners in Ahmedabad. The all-rounder was dismissed LBW by Axar Patel, with the spinner picking up his third wicket of the day.
BCCI uploaded a video of Ben Stokes’ dismissal online, with the all-rounder’s struggles against spin highlighted once again. You can watch the video here.
Stokes constantly came down the wicket to negate the turn on offer during his short stay at the crease. He also went back deep into the crease to play the ball late on several occasions. But the batsman was caught in no man’s land against Axar Patel, which proved to be the end of his stay.
Bowling from over the wicket, Axar Patel pulled his length back on the fifth delivery of his 12th over. Caught in two minds, Ben Stokes was stuck in the middle as he meekly attempted a defense. But he missed the delivery entirely, with the ball hitting him on the back leg.
Although Ben Stokes reviewed the decision after he was given out, DRS ruled Umpire’s Call with the ball hitting the top of off stump. As a result, Stokes had to walk back to the pavilion after scoring just 6 off 24 balls, with England reeling at 81/6.
Ben Stokes’ form a worry for England
Although Ben Stokes started the India vs England series strongly, he has since struggled to make an impact. The all-rounder scored a sublime 82 in the first innings of the first Test but has failed to go past 20 in four innings since then.
His struggles against spin have increased of late. Ben Stokes has been dismissed by Indian spinners on all occasions in this series. While Ravichandran Ashwin has dismissed Ben Stokes thrice, Axar Patel and Shahbaz Nadeem have taken his scalp once each.
The 29-year-old has scored just 121 runs in 5 innings for England. With Ben Stokes being one of England’s senior batsmen, the all-rounder needs to step up if the visitors want to have any chance of beating India.