'Stokes' batting form has declined each year'

Ben Stokes’ batting form has steadily deserted him over the years, more so at a time when he should be leading an under-fire England team from the front, says former skipper Michael Atherton after the hosts were humiliated by India in the second Test at Edgbaston.

- Agencies

Atherton reckons that in his three years at the helm, the series against India is Stokes’ sternest test of leadership qualities.It is been two years since Stokes hit the last of his 13 hundreds at Lord’s in an Ashes Test where he would be back for the third Test against India starting on Thursday.”To add to the problems of back-to-back matches, little rest, a heavy defeat and bad judgment is his own form with the bat, which has declined with each year he has been in the job,” Atherton wrote in his column for ‘The Times’.