London, Jul 30: Captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of England’s fifth Test against India, as the hosts have made four changes to the playing eleven for the game at The Oval, which begins on Thursday. England go into the decisive game with a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

With Stokes out, top-order batter Ollie Pope will take on the captaincy mantle for England. Also missing out on the playing eleven are left-arm spinner Liam Dawson and pace bowlers Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse.

In place of them, England have included Jacob Bethell, who will bat at number six, as well as pacers Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Josh Tongue giving a new look to the fast-bowling attack to be led by Chris Woakes.

Atkinson, Pope, Smith and Overton will also serve as sources of local information for England, as The Oval is their home ground while playing for Surrey in domestic cricket. Bethell, meanwhile, will share spin bowling duties with Joe Root in the line-up.

During the drawn fourth Test at Old Trafford, Stokes was seen clutching his right shoulder frequently, mainly because he had bowled the most number of Test overs than ever before. "I am obviously disappointed. There is a bit of emotion that goes into this stuff when you find out what you have done. I came down here this morning to give myself every chance to play just as a batter.

“I think you need that time chatting with the medical team, Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum), then 20 minutes with myself to really be clear around the decision that we made. It is one of those of weighing up the risk and reward and the risk was way too high for the damage.

"I wouldn't expect to put any of my players at risk with an injury like this so I will start rehabbing now and focus on what we have got coming up in the winter. Once the series was done, I was feet up anyway, so it doesn't make too much difference from what I had at the end of the series until the winter anyway," said Stokes in a press conference on Wednesday.

England playing XI: ⁠Zak Crawley, ⁠Ben Duckett, ⁠Ollie Pope (c), ⁠Joe Root, ⁠Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, ⁠Jamie Smith (wk), ⁠Chris Woakes, ⁠Gus Atkinson, ⁠Jamie Overton, and ⁠Josh Tongue.

(IANS)

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