ENG vs IND 2025: 'No chance I was risking my bowlers' - Ben Stokes reveals reasoning behind offering draw in Manchester

Published - 28 Jul 2025, 09:27 IST | Updated - 28 Jul 2025, 09:49 IST

Ben Stokes signalled at a possible rotation of England bowlers for the final Test of the ongoing five-match series between England and India. His remarks came when asked about the bowling attack England planned on fielding for the game at The Oval.

The English skipper mentioned that he along with the team management will evaluate the options they possess in addition to the workload of the current crop of bowlers.

"Another quick turnaround before The Oval, so we'll have to use these few days wisely and we'll just have to check up on everyone and see how they're going. We're very lucky at the moment that we've got a battery of fast bowlers who we can call at any point in time, so it'll be assessed over the next couple of days and then we'll make that decision," shared Stokes during the post-match presentation.

When asked about why he wanted he offered a draw and the non-utilisation of the frontline bowlers in the majority of the final session of Day 5, Stokes admitted that he wanted to protect his group from any risk of injury.

"There was absolutely no chance I was going to risk any of my big fast bowlers through injuries with one more game to go. Dawsy (Dawson) just bowled so many overs (15 [first innings] and 47 [second innings])  this game that his body started to get a little bit tired and started to cramp up in the legs. I wasn't risking any of my frontline bowlers for that last 30 minutes. Even before this Test match, obviously there were those conversations around how much effort and energy has gone in, especially from the bowling department," he added.

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Chris Woakes (167 overs), Brydon Carse (155 overs), and Stokes (140 overs) are the only three bowlers from England who have bowled across all eight innings. The most an Indian bowler has bowled is Mohammed Siraj (139 overs in 7 innings).