Multan, Pakistan

England skipper Ben Stokes has officially been ruled out of the upcoming first Test against Pakistan in Multan. Stokes is still recovering from a hamstring injury which he had suffered in the Hundred tournament. The first Test begins on Monday (Oct 7).

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"I tried my hardest to try and get myself fit for this first game but we've taken the call to miss this one. I've not quite managed to get game-ready," Stokes said as reported by cricket news website ESPNCricinfo. 

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"We got to a certain point, but just looking at the bigger picture around what we've got coming up and actually physically where I'm at with my rehab, I'm not quite ready to play.

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"Whatever sports you play, you're going to get injuries. I'm 33 now, so I've put my body through quite a lot. I've started working incredibly hard over the last two years: I know that I'm getting older, so it's not through lack of effort. It's just one of those things where, with what we do, you're going to put yourself at risk every time you walk out on the field for injuries," he added.

Stokes had also not played the three-Test home series against Sri Lanka which England won 2-1 under Ollie Pope's captaincy. With the all-rounder out of the picture at least for the first game of the series, Pope will be leading England in fourth successive Test.

England are in Pakistan for a three-Test series and even if Stokes becomes fit for the second Test, he'll most probably be playing as a specialist batter only.

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England pacer Chris Woakes, meanwhile, will be playing his first overseas Test in more than two years and first in Asia since 2016 after being named in England's playing XI for the first Test.

England XI for 1st Test vs Pak: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Shoaib Bashir