Ben Stokes: 'I've always enjoyed playing against India,' says England skipper as he prepares for his 100th Test

England skipper Ben Stokes on Wednesday said that he was relishing the experience of playing against India as he prepares to play his 100th Test. ‘‘Milestones are what they are. I’ve always enjoyed playing against India because of the contest, the theatre it brings," said Stokes on the eve of the third Test in Rajkot that starts on Thursday. The five-match series is currently level at 1-1. While England won the first Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs, India bounced back to clinch a 106-run win in the second Test in Vizag. Stokes said that his main focus was on building a strategy for the game. “You look down and there’s a few cracks that meet up. Only time will tell if they will come into it. (I) don’t want to have too many preconceived ideas about pitches, but you do have to have some sort of idea which informs the XI you pick,” said Stokes. Stokes called Bumrah an unbelievable bowler. Bumrah had picked nine wickets in the second Test, including a six-fer in he first innings. ‘‘Jasprit Bumrah is an unbelievable bowler. He’s proven that for a very long time and has performed really well in the two games. I think everyone has to go their own way of not trying to deal with Bumrah but we do have to score runs off him as well and that’s what we’ll try to do. ‘But when that doesn’t work, you just have to give credit to the bowler and Jasprit’s been outstanding the first two games. We’ve all got our own processes against every single bowler and there’s no team way of playing anyone," said Stokes. Stokes does not want to count that England have an added advantage over India just because of the absence of stars like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Kohli will miss the rest of the series due o personal reasons while KL Rahul looks set to miss the third Test due to a quadriceps injury. ‘KL sustained an injury in the first game and that has kept him out. I said the other day that Virat not being here, I don’t like it being used as a benefit to us or a disadvantage to India," said Stokes. ‘‘There is some specific reasons as to why he is not playing in this series and it should be left to that as opposed to an advantage or disadvantage to any side.’’ ‘‘I wish Virat with everything that’s going around and all our well wishes from the team. You want the best players playing and he is one of them. Hopefully he will be back on the field very soon,’’ continued the 32-year-old.