England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes, who had fractured his left index finger in mid-April, revealed he was in “ridiculous pain” during the recent ODIs against Pakistan and hopes that it would not cause him problems during the Test series against India.

Stokes had fractured the finger while playing for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He played six T20 Blast games for Durham in June and was not supposed to take part in the Pakistan series. However, the England camp had to isolate after some of the players tested positive for COVID. Following this, Stokes was summoned at the last minute and made the captain.

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He revealed that he had to take pain-killing steroid injections during the series against Pakistan 

“It was a totally unexpected set of games for me and the truth is I would never have played under normal circumstances due to how much pain I was in with my left index finger. The surgery was a success after I had broken it at the IPL, but it was still so painful,”  Stokes wrote in his Daily Mirror column. 

“Sometimes though you just have to grin and bear it, and captaining England is one of those reasons. The finger has healed structurally, but the pain was just ridiculous for where it should be so that is why I have now had an injection to ease it for the rest of the summer,” he added. 

England won the series against Pakistan 3-0. The team will be playing five-Test series against India, starting August 4. 

“I’ve got a bit of a break now, which should give the steroids time to take effect and allow me to play pain-free in the Hundred and then against India. Hopefully, my finger won’t be a problem by the time the India Test series comes around, because that is a huge series and one we are all desperate to perform well in,” Stokes said.