Former England skipper Michael Vaughan reckons talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes may never play Test cricket at 100 percent fitness again. Stokes has mostly been playing purely as a batter since his knee injury.

The all-rounder recently underwent knee surgery in November 2023 and he is once again not expected to do a lot of bowling in the upcoming five-match Test series against India.

Vaughan reckons Stokes’ batting and captaincy will be vital for England in the upcoming Test series. Stokes has been a huge match-winner for England and has done an exceptional job as a leader.

“He may never play Test cricket at 100 percent fitness again, but England need him at 90 percent after his operation because his batting and captaincy are so vital,” Vaughan wrote on his column for the Telegraph.

Vaughan wants England’s veteran batter Joe Root not to be over-aggressive in his batting approach and back himself to deliver with his orthodox technique.

“Another hope of mine is that Joe Root does not get sucked into playing overly attacking cricket. I want him to play exactly as he did in 2021 when in Sri Lanka and India, he made three huge scores. That is what England need from arguably their greatest-ever player of spin,” Vaughan added.

Root scored 426 runs in two Test matches at an average of 106.50 and a strike-rate of 65.63 including two centuries and a top score of 228 against Sri Lanka in 2021.

Furthermore, Root scored 368 runs in four Test matches against India at an average of 46 in 2021.

Stokes and Root are England’s most experienced batters and they are going to hold the key against India in tough conditions.

The first Test match between India and England will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from 25 January onwards.