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England batter Joe Root provided an update on the availability of all-rounder Ben Stokes ahead of their World Cup clash against Afghanistan.
After reversing his retirement, Stokes missed out on England's opening two games against New Zealand and Bangladesh due to a niggle in his hip. During the pre-match press conference, Root was asked about an update on Stokes to which he replied, "Yeah, Woakes (Ben Stokes) on the bus today which is a great sign so I'm sure he'll enjoy training, seeing where he's at, and Ben seems to be getting better day on day. He trained really well last night, obviously had a long bat, did his running, seems to be improving, so all good signs ahead of tomorrow." "I think he's just got to be ready to play. Thankfully I'm not in that position anymore. As we all know, we have a team with Ben in it, it's a lot stronger. But he's got to be fit to play and we'll see whether that's the case for tomorrow, whether it's the next game or further down the line," Root added. He further went on to talk about his own form and stated that his style of batting suits the Indian track. "No, I've felt like I do enjoy playing cricket here in India, I think it suits my game quite nicely and I did find that New Zealand series quite strange one you sort of trying to find yourself trying of getting yourself in a position where you're in a good place," Root said. "Of trying to find something to come to the World Cup with and I think when you get here and you're in that tournament mentality of this is what it's about, this is when you need to stand up and deliver, I think it's a different frame of mind and I think that really helped me coming out here and you've got a real purpose to what you're doing," Root added. England will face Afghanistan on Sunday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here. (ANI)
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