The ongoing five-match series is tied at 1-1, with India winning the second Test by 106 runs and England securing a 28-run victory in Hyderabad.
Key players Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will be absent for India, while England’s senior spinner Jack Leach won’t play in the final three matches due to a knee injury suffered in the first Test.
Stokes, 32, received praise for leading England to victory in the series opener and aggressively chasing 399 runs in Visakhapatnam, narrowly falling short. England, under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum’s attacking approach, have won 14 out of 20 Tests.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell dismissed the term “Bazball” and emphasized that Stokes focuses on achieving victory through aggressive cricket from the start.
Stokes, playing as a batsman after recovering from knee surgery, has scored 6,251 runs and taken 197 wickets since his Test debut in 2013.
India will miss Kohli for the rest of the series due to personal reasons, and Rahul is expected to return after missing the second Test.
England’s squad, after a break in Abu Dhabi, is back in training in Rajkot. The series started with India’s defeat in Hyderabad, followed by a series-levelling win in Visakhapatnam.
In the upcoming matches, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin aims for his 500th Test dismissal, while England seamer James Anderson needs five more to reach 700 wickets.
England’s spinners have stood out with 33 wickets compared to India’s 23. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, India’s hero in Visakhapatnam, tops the world’s Test bowling ranking.
Yashasvi Jaiswal leads the series batting charts with 321 runs, followed by Ollie Pope with 243 and Zak Crawley with 200.
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