KOLKATA: He might have reversed his ODI retirement decision to play the World Cup but England Test captain Ben Stokes would like to "think hard" about his future in 50-over format after his impending knee surgery.
The England Test captain will undergo a surgery to fix his dodgy left knee later this month as he would be running against time to be fit for a busy calendar ahead beginning with the five-match series in India slated from January 25 in Hyderabad.
"I'm Test captain, got a lot of stuff coming up," Stokes told Sky Sports on whether he would like to remain in England's scheme of things for their ODI team reboot.
"There's a lot of stuff that I want to do with that Test team and that'll be a decision that probably I'll have to think about quite hard," he said.
Stokes also has a million and half pound IPL contract with CSK and he would need to check out on his workload.
"It goes back to my initial reason for stepping away from this format, (it) was just through workload...But who knows where everything is? "I've a bit of a clean-out coming up so you never know, the body might be in a lot better position than it was in the last 18 months," he said after guiding England to a 93-run win over Pakistan in their last match of the ongoing World Cup here on Saturday.
Stokes played as a specialist batter because of his chronic knee issue and went on to miss first of their three matches due to a hip injury.
Yet, he finished as England's second highest run-scorer, with 304 in six matches with one hundred and two fifties, all coming in their last three matches.
The 2019 champions, who had slipped to the bottom of the table with a string of five defeats, ended the shambolic World Cup on a positive note by clinching the 2025 Champions Trophy berth after back-to-back victories.
His focus now is on to get the surgery done and be fit in time for the India Test series.
"You never know the body might be in a lot better position than it was in the last 18 months. I put a lot of hard work in away from cricket to give myself the best chance of a quicker recovery."
"The main thing to me is getting this knee right and being ready to go and raring to go for that Test series in India," he added.