England’s defence of their title in India has encountered significant challenges, particularly after a surprising loss to Afghanistan, which has left them with only one win.
Stokes, who is also the Test team captain, sustained a hip injury during England’s preparations for the tournament. However, he has given the green light for his return to action against South Africa in Mumbai on Saturday.
Speaking before a training session at the Wankhede Stadium that will double up as a final vigorous fitness test, Stokes told the BBC: “It was frustrating to pick up a minor injury just before the tournament, but I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get back to this point and make myself available for selection.
“We have had a few days off since the last game and first training session here in Mumbai. I’ll give it a good push but, yes, I think everything is pretty good. I am in a good place.”
The powerful batsman played down the hype surrounding his return.
“I know I am one person in a team sport,” said the 32-year-old, who starred in the 2019 World Cup final.
“No one looks to one person in this team to inspire them or anything like that. It is not the case that if I do come in then all of a sudden we are going to do well. It is just one of those things that gets spoken about a lot but I don’t read too much into it”.
“Everyone that walks out on to that field for England is a match winner and can do something individually that can win us a game. We just need to tone it down a bit on me coming back in.”
(With AFP inputs)
