MUNDELEIN, Ill. – Irish race car driver James Roe has signed with Turn 3 Motorsport for the upcoming Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season.

Roe, the winner of the 2019 Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year Award, will join the Road to Indy ladder after making his mark in the Formula Regional Americas series the last two years by earning a win, several top-five finishes and two team championships.

In 2018, Roe was the F2000 runner-up and rookie-of-the-year after a three-win season. He also competed with the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finishing fifth in race two of the Indianapolis Grand Prix, the highest finishing rookie of the race. Before coming to the United States, Roe enjoyed a single seater career as a consistent frontrunner achieving lap records, wins and podium finishes in the Ginetta Junior and Formula Ford 1600 series in Europe.

“I am extremely excited to be joining Turn 3 Motorsport for the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 season,” said Roe. “To be making my move into the Road to Indy and supporting the NTT IndyCar Series with an Irish-owned team here in the USA is really special. After testing with the team over the winter and spending quite a lot of time at their shop in Chicago, it became very clear to me that the right personnel, knowledge, and level of experience is in place within the team to give myself and my partners the best opportunity to succeed.

“Joining the team was a very easy decision for me to make,” continued Roe. “There is no doubt that this year is going to be extremely competitive as the level of competition is always very high on the Road to Indy. Competing on ovals and street courses will be a new experience for me as well, and I’m excited for that challenge. I have every bit of confidence in our package and believe we as a team have what it takes to be at the right end of the grid.”

Partnering with Roe for the season is returning sponsor Topcon Positioning Group, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets.

“It is an honor to be making the next step in my career with Topcon on board once again,” continued Roe. “To be moving onto the IndyCar scene with Topcon is something we are all very proud of, and I am sure we will see the benefits of Topcon technology within the team throughout the year.”

Over seven decades, thousands of drivers have entered NASCAR Cup Series races, but only three have become seven-time champions.

Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat and will always be remembered as the greatest drivers in the sport’s history.

Still, many have asked why winning an eighth championship is so incredibly elusive. There is no simple answer unless one subscribes to the theory that fate simply hasn’t allowed the coveted milestone to be achieved.

Petty wheeled his famed No. 43 Petty Enterprises Plymouths, Dodges, Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets to 200 Cup Series victories between 1958 and 1992. For years, many within the sport felt the seven championships he logged in 1964, ’67, ’71, ’72, ’74, ’75 and ’79 would never be duplicated. For 53 years, he’s been known as “The King,” a name he earned after winning 27 of 48 races and his second title in 1967.

Petty’s first win came on Feb. 28, 1960, on dirt at the Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte, N.C. In the decades that followed, Petty was NASCAR’s most successful driver, winning nearly double the races claimed by any of his competitors.

Three-time champion David Pearson is second on the list of all-time Cup Series winners with 105.

Petty has always been quick to point out that many people worked behind the scenes at Petty Enterprises and contributed to his success.

“My biggest accomplishment would be just to be remembered,” Petty has said in recent years. “If people look back and remember what you’ve accomplished, for whatever reason, that’s pretty humbling and makes you feel good.”

When asked about the seven championships he recorded, Petty said, “I came along into NASCAR at the right time for Richard Petty and Petty Enterprises. Success was the timing. It personally meant that I had a successful career and didn’t realize what was accomplished until I retired. It was about fate. Being in the right place, the right time for us and things just came together.”

Petty’s longtime crew chief, Dale Inman, is the only eight-time championship-winner in NASCAR Cup Series history. In addition to seven titles with Petty, Inman won the title with Terry Labonte in 1984. Having an eighth championship with his cousin, Richard Petty, would have been a great milestone for Inman to cherish.

“There were a couple of those championships that we sewed up a race or two before the season ended and that always takes the pressure off,” Inman said. “Some of them were really close with several different point systems and formats, and that’s even different today.

“Another aspect of it is you have to be thinking on the same level as far as driver and crew chief are concerned. You also have to have your team behind you as well. Doing well on the track and winning championships puts pressure on everybody, right down to putting an extra little tug on the last bolt you turn. We were fortunate to get to seven championships with a lot of help from a lot of great people.”

The son of 1956 NASCAR sportsman champion Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt made his first Cup Series start in 1975. The younger Earnhardt earned 76 Cup Series victories and claimed titles with team owner Rod Osterlund in 1980 and Richard Childress in 1986, ’87, ’90, ’91, ’93 and ’94.

Earnhardt dominated the late 1980s and early ’90s through a solid chemistry among himself, Childress and crew chiefs Kirk Shelmerdine and Andy Petree. He earned 67 victories and six titles with RCR.

In 2000, Earnhardt and Childress enjoyed their strongest season since 1994, finishing second to Bobby Labonte and Joe Gibbs Racing. Earnhardt thought of the season as a success, as many media outlets predicted he would win his eighth title in 2001. Sadly, he lost his life in a last-lap crash during the season-opening Daytona 500.

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JUPITER, Fla. – Palm Beach Int’l Raceway will host the Pro Winter Warm-Up for the first time since 2015 on March 5-7 with more than a dozen NHRA teams scheduled to be in attendance.

NHRA teams will use the test session, which is open to the public with limited tickets available each day, to prepare for their season-opening event in Gainesville, Fla.

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series teams scheduled to participate in the March 5-7 pre-season test session include:

– Don Schumacher Racing (Ron Capps, Antron Brown, Leah Pruett and Matt Hagan)

– Torrence Racing (Steve Torrence, Billy Torrence)

– Kalitta Motorsports (Doug Kalitta, J.R. Todd and Shawn Langdon)

– John Force Racing (John Force, Robert Hight and Brittany Force)

Others scheduled to participate include with Cruz Pedregon Racing (Cruz Pedregon); Alexis DeJoria/Del Worsham (Alexis DeJoria); Justin Ashley Racing (Justin Ashley); Scrappers Racing (Mike Salinas); Tasca Racing (Bob Tasca III); Paul Lee Racing (Paul Lee); and Head Racing / Blake Alexander Racing (Blake Alexander).

This is the only South Florida appearance for the stars and cars of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series this year.

Adult general admission tickets are $25 on Friday, $35 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday. A Saturday/Sunday Combo ticket is $60. Children 12 and under are free. Parking is $10.

(Editor's note: This is a first-hand story from LPGA Tour winner and European Solheim Cup team member Madelene Sagstrom, in which she discusses being sexually abused at age 7 and her desire to inspire and encourage others with her story. This story first appeared on LPGA.com as part of its Drive On campaign.)

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Greenwood, South Carolina. And I can’t stop crying.

It’s March 2016 and I’m here to prepare for a Symetra Tour event later in the season.

I want to give myself the best chance to succeed. But I can’t keep this inside of me anymore. I need to tell someone about the secret that I’ve kept bottled up inside of me for 16 years ...

Growing up in Sweden, I was so naïve. I thought I could trust everybody. I thought everybody was supposed to be my friend. I hung around a lot with my brother when we were kids and many of our close friends were older people who lived near us in the countryside about an hour from Stockholm.

One day, I was by myself going over to see my friend, a man I was really close to but who was not a relative.

I went inside. We hung out. And he sexually abused me.

I was 7 years old.

Afterward, I went home. And for 16 years, I acted like nothing ever happened.

For years, I immersed myself in golf. Golf became my savior; I could lose myself in the game. And when I played well, I was okay.

That became a pattern. If I could just play a little better, I thought I’d be happier. Then I carried it a step further. If I could just be a little skinnier, a little nicer, a little more likable ...

What I didn’t realize is that I simply did not like who I was. I felt insecure–never thinking that I was worthy enough or good enough. I didn’t like who I saw in the mirror. I couldn’t even put body lotion on my legs because of how much I hated my body, hated myself, all because of what someone else did to me.

I never wanted to acknowledge the assault, to myself or anyone else. Even after I became an adult and could understand that what happened to me was not my fault – that the feelings I had about myself were rooted in the trauma from long ago – it didn’t help. Somehow, I thought I’d be okay not talking about it.

But I was wrong.

I had a big awakening in 2016 when I joined the Symetra Tour. Robert Karlsson, a former Ryder Cup player who I met through the Swedish National team was my mentor back then. At the time, I was struggling with my emotions on the course. He really pushed me to dig deeper and understand the reasons why I reacted the way I did. I had this thing come up in my mind. At first I didn’t think it was important. But it kept coming back again and again. I thought, ‘Maybe there is something there. Maybe I should tell Robert.’

One day, in that hotel room in Greenwood, South Carolina, I told him that I had been sexually abused as a child. As he looked at me, with a mixture of shock and empathy on his face, my entire world broke down. I wept uncontrollably. Sixteen years of secrets poured out with each tear and every heaving gasp.

I had no idea how being sexually abused by a man I trusted affected me. All those years, I blamed myself. I hated myself. I despised my body and hurt myself both mentally and physically. That day haunted me. I had nightmares about it and did everything I could to escape.

Telling Robert was the biggest release I’ve ever had. It made me feel free. It’s a big reason why I won three times in 2016 and earned my LPGA Tour card. I didn’t feel like I was hiding anymore. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted. I felt like I would be okay.

Robert understood the pain that I’d been carrying for so many years. On the golf course, we experienced so many of the same thoughts. He knew where I was coming from as a player, so I felt really free to speak to him. He was my ally. He was someone I could trust 100% and provide the counsel and support I needed.

Together, we decided that I needed to tell my parents. That was one of the worst days of my life.

I knew telling them would be overwhelming and emotional so I wrote a script and made a voice recording. I sat in my apartment, with Robert on FaceTime and my parents on Skype. They were like, ‘Why is Robert here?’ And I was like, ‘You’ll figure it out.’ Then I played the recording for them. As I listened, I realized that this is the worst thing that parents can ever hear from their child. I can’t do anything worse to them. They took it really hard. I mean, how do you ever take that news? But telling them brought us closer. I feel much more open with them, and much more comfortable telling them how I feel. I think they appreciate that openness and see a different side of me, too.

When I was 7 years old, something horrible happened to me. It was an event that scared me and shaped my self-esteem for far too long. The best decision I ever made was to share my secret with my mentor and friend, Robert Karlsson, in that hotel room. And then to keep telling the people around me.

It was the start of a new chapter in my life, of me feeling okay just being me. The day I shared my secret, all my walls broke down. Everything I had built up for so many years fell to the ground.

For so long, I never thought I’d tell anyone. It was going to be my secret forever. I’m so happy it’s not.

Finding my voice and courage to share my experience has taken time. Survivorship is a continuous process. As a professional athlete, I have the visibility to make a difference and connect with others who may have experienced sexual abuse. If I touch one life by telling my story, it will all be worth it.

To talk with someone about sexual abuse, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline in the U.S. at (800) 656-HOPE (4673).

(Editor's note: Robert Karlsson has played on the PGA and European tours and served as a mentor and coach to Madelene Sagstrom. He offers a first-hand account of when Sagstrom informed him of her sexual abuse as a child and how the revelation has strengthened her. This story first appeared on LPGA.com as part of its Drive On campaign.)

I first met Madelene Sagstrom during my work as a coach with the Swedish National Team. She was one of our country’s most promising junior golfers.

But the first couple of times that I worked with her, it became clear that she overreacted when things were going bad during her rounds. When things were bad, they were very bad. The more we talked, she understood that she had things going on mentally that were impacting her golf. We just didn’t know what.

So we began to work on it.

The thing that I know as a golfer, and as a human being, is that when we’re on the first tee, yes, we are the golfer, but we can’t leave the person behind. Especially if we’re under stress. If things don’t go well, usually the personality we have in us or the person, so to speak, comes through.

With Madelene, I could see on her reaction patterns that something was going on. Something was bothering her when she was under pressure or when she was playing poorly. I just told her the things that I’d gone through as a player and tried to build trust by being very honest about my own journey. And she started to think more about what caused her to overreact on the golf course ... that maybe it could be something that she’s been carrying with her that was disturbing her.

We had a breakthrough preparing for a Symetra Tour event in 2016. During a practice round, she said she had something to tell me, but she wanted to do it a bit later. That evening, she told me she had been sexually abused as a child.

I was stunned.

It was a strong emotional thing for me that she trusted me enough to tell me. But I could also see that it was a relief for her to talk about it.

After that, I think she relaxed a lot more in herself and became a lot more comfortable in her own skin. She became less sensitive to what happened around her, especially when she played poorly.

And by talking about the abuse she suffered as a child, she proved to herself that she had nothing to fear. She didn’t have anything in herself to avoid, feel ashamed of or that she needed to hide. And it definitely took her on a different path where she was more stable in herself and more accepting of herself.

I think back on that breakthrough conversation often. I wasn’t really prepared to hear what Madelene shared that day in 2016, but I’m really glad I had her trust and confidence.

When someone you care about is in crisis, you do what you can to help them through. In this case, listening to Madelene, validating her experience and being by her side as she told others helped her take the important first steps towards recovery. I am so proud of what Madelene has accomplished. She’s living her dream on the LPGA Tour and won her first event in 2020. But beyond that, by having the courage to share her experience with sexual abuse, she’s giving courage to countless others.

Here's a look at what's happening in professional golf this week, including the WGC-Workday Championship, and how you can watch it:

World Golf Championships

WGC-Workday Championship

Thursday-Sunday, The Concession Golf Club, Bradenton, Florida

Course specs: Par 72, 7,474 yards, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin (2006)

Purse: $10.5 million

Defending champion: Patrick Reed (won last year's championship in Mexico City by one shot; Bryson DeChambeau also in thick of it down the stretch before finishing runner-up)

Notables in the field: Reed, DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Lee Westwood, Bob MacIntyre, Jason Scrivener

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Thursday-Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, noon-2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) and 2:30-6 p.m. ET (NBC)

PGA Tour

Puerto Rico Open

Thursday-Sunday, Grand Reserve CC, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Course specs: Par 72, 7,506 yards, designed by Tom Kite

Purse: $3 million

Defending champion: Viktor Hovland (edged Josh Teater by a shot to earn first career win, which he later followed by capturing last fall's Mayakoba Classic)

Notables in the field: Davis Riley, Brandon Wu, Justin Suh, Ian Poulter, Matt Wallace, Thomas Pieters, Joohyung (Tom) Kim, D.J. Trahan, J.J. Henry, Ricky Barnes, Carl Pettersson, Robert Allenby, Charlie Beljan, Brendon de Jonge, Daniel Chopra, Carlos Franco, Jason Bohn, Chris Couch, Omar Uresti, Richard S. Johnson

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2:30-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

LPGA

Gainbridge LPGA

Thursday-Sunday, Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, Orlando, Florida

Course specs: Par 72, 6,647 yards, designed by Tom Fazio (1986)

Purse: $2 million

Defending champion: Madelene Sagstrom (won inaugural event, held last year in Boca Raton, Florida, by a shot over Nasa Hataoka)

Notables in the field: Sagstrom, Jin Young Ko, Sei Young Kim, Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Sung Hyun Park, Jessica Korda, Brooke Henderson, In Gee Chun, Lydia Ko, Gabi Ruffels, a-Alexa Pano, Albane Valenzuela, Haley Moore, Yani Tseng, Annika Sorenstam

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Thursday, 7-9 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 8-11 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

PGA Tour Champions

Cologuard Classic

Thursday-Sunday, Omni Tucson National (Arizona) Golf Resort

Course specs: Par 73, 7,218 yards, designed by Robert Bruce Harris (1961)

Purse: $1.7 million

Defending champion: Bernhard Langer (traded more blows than a boxing match with Woody Austin, rallying from four down and withstanding an Austin ace to win by two shots)

Notables in the field: Langer, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, John Daly, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Mike Weir, Billy Mayfair, Colin Montgomerie, Mark O'Meara, K.J. Choi, John Smoltz

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Friday, 8:30-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 5-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 4:30-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Matt Doherty's future at Tottenham is uncertain with manager Jose Mourinho harbouring doubts over the defender's ability to be a success at the club, sources have told ESPN.

Spurs signed the 29-year-old from Wolves for a fee in the region of £15 million in August but Mourinho is considering making the right-back available for transfer this summer unless his form improves.

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Doherty has started just nine Premier League games this season and only two since the turn of the year, the first ending with a 90th-minute red card against Leeds and the second initially as a makeshift left wing-back in defeat to champions Liverpool.

Mourinho could be heard berating Doherty throughout that game and sources have told ESPN there is further frustration behind the scenes at the Republic of Ireland international's lack of progress.

Doherty signed a four-year contract last summer and is not ready to give up on his Spurs career. However, he will need opportunities to revive his fortunes and despite being without Serge Aurier due to a foot injury against West Ham on Sunday, Mourinho opted to start youngster Japhet Tanganga at right-back, only introducing Doherty at half-time.

Mourinho was keen to overhaul the right-back position last summer having allowed Kyle Walker-Peters to join Southampton in addition to Aurier being available for sale.

However, an acceptable deal could not be struck for Aurier and he has since moved ahead of Doherty in the pecking order.

Sources have told ESPN that Aurier's improvement is another negative mark against Doherty but it remains to be seen whether he can turn things around or if chairman Daniel Levy would sanction any departure at the end of the season.

Mourinho's own situation is also unclear with pressure mounting on the 58-year-old after Spurs fell to their fifth defeat in six games. ESPN reported on Friday that Levy wants to wait until the end of the season -- if results allow -- before determining Mourinho's fate.

USMNT forward Jordan Morris has suffered a season-ending ACL injury while on loan at English Championship side Swansea City, meaning he will miss the Gold Cup and the Olympics.

Morris picked up the injury during Swansea's 4-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town on Saturday. Morris came on at half-time, but was forced off on a stretcher after 66 minutes.

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Swansea manager Steve Cooper said postmatch the injury "does not look good" and scans revealed that Morris has suffered a serious knee injury.

"He's had a bad injury unfortunately for him," Cooper said of Morris. "It's significant ligament damage, ACL. Everything we hoped it wasn't, unfortunately it is."

Morris moved to Swansea on a five-month loan deal in January -- the club had an option to sign him on a permanent deal -- but the injury means his season is finished at the Championship side.

"It's the end of his season for us and a long road back to recovery, it's very cruel," Cooper added. "It's a cruel injury anyway, but in the circumstances of him fulfilling an ambition and coming to Europe and being a part of what we're trying to do here. It's a really tough one for him and us to take.

"He has our support of course, I'm not quite sure of the next steps of his recovery whether it's here or back home in the U.S."

Morris made five appearances for Swansea -- four in the Championship and one in the FA Cup.

Umesh Yadav has been added to India's squad for the third and fourth Tests against England after clearing a fitness test. Yadav, who had given the fitness test on Sunday, was formally added to the squad on Monday, two days ahead of the third Test, which will be a pink-ball, day-night affair. Yadav will be available for selection for the match at the new stadium in Motera, which starts from February 24. The fourth and final Test will take place at the same venue from March 4, though that will be a traditional red-ball game.

Yadav replaces Shardul Thakur in the Indian squad. Thakur has been released to play in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy - India's domestic 50-overs competition - where he will turn out for Mumbai.

Yadav was expected to be part of the squad once he had cleared his fitness test, and he joins a fast-bowling group that comprises Ishant Sharma - who will be playing his 100th Test, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Yadav has played 48 Tests overall, of which 28 have been in India, where he has been particularly effective. Overall, he has 148 wickets at 30.54, but at home, he has 96 wickets at 24.54. He has been particularly devastating at home since 2018, averaging 13.86 with 38 wickets in seven games. His average and strike rate (24.3) in that period are the best in India of any bowler, given a minimum of three Tests played.

Given the success Yadav has enjoyed and the likelihood of India bringing in a pacer in place of a spinner due to the match being a pink-ball one, Yadav could return to the playing XI straightaway, marking his first game since picking up a calf injury during the Boxing Day Test against Australia.

England's seamers have been "licking their lips" at the thought of using a pink ball under floodlights in Ahmedabad, according to Ben Stokes.

While England succumbed to a defeat by 317 runs in a second Test dominated by the spinning ball, Stokes believes the third could be "a completely different game" with the seamers expected to play a larger role.

Indeed, Stokes claims the seamers' net session under lights on Sunday had to be abandoned after conditions became "really dangerous" and "a few guys actually got hit". Partially as a consequence, he feels England have a "great chance" to fulfil one of his career ambitions and establish a series-defining position in the coming days.

"Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Jofra Archer have been licking their lips, I can tell you," Stokes told talkSPORT. "It's a completely different game.

"It was funny in training yesterday, when the lights came on, the nets actually got really dangerous. The bowlers had to stop bowling in the nets because we were actually worried that some of the batters were going to get injured because the ball started jumping off a length and a few guys actually got hit.

"We had to take the bowlers out into the middle to finish their spells. Whether that's going to be similar in the middle we're not sure. But you can tell the difference when bowling with a red ball in the normal times you see Tests played to bowling with a pink ball when the lights are on."

While England's experience may turn out to reveal more about the quality of pitches in the nets rather than anything about the pink ball, it does strengthen the suspicion that England may revert to an attack including only one spinner in this Test. If that were the case, it would probably mean Joe Root operating as a second spinner to Jack Leach with no recall for Dom Bess.

Anderson looks certain to return with the new ball, with Archer also likely to be recalled having overcome a minor elbow injury. That means Chris Woakes, whose batting could be crucial as England seek to avoid a long tail, could be vying with Broad for the final spot in the side.

Archer, who missed the second Test through injury, revealed in a separate interview that he had had a cortisone injection to help settle an elbow complaint, adding that he had been expecting to sit out that contest anyway on account of England's rest and rotation policy.

"I tried to use the best of the two-week window," Archer said. "I could have played the second Test if needed but I was going to be rested anyway so I just tried to get the cortisone injection then so I would have enough time to rebuild for the third Test

"It's always nice to be in competition for a spot," he added. "If I don't get it that's fine. I would much rather win the Test series than try to play lots of games."

Stokes also admitted he had been inspired to make improvements in his own game by his captain. Such was Root's hunger for self-improvement that Stokes said he had rethought his own game-plans and become a more consistent player as a result.

"I look at Rooty," Stokes said. "He's one of the best players in the world. I'm going to say it now: he is England's greatest batsman to play the game.

"But he's still looking at ways to improve as a player and a captain. It's amazing to watch someone with his skill doing that. Even as a senior player, I look up to how he's always trying to improve. That's what I do: I always try and evolve and try to work things out to become a better player. No one is ever the finished article. There's always room for improvement with every player.

"I got rid of the 'this is how I play' excuse massively - in terms of always looking to be aggressive or attacking - when I realised that was just an excuse for when failures happen.

"Every now and then the 'that's how I play' mind-set would work and pay off ,and I'd do some decent things. But not as consistently as I can now. I expect a lot more of myself these days compared to back then.

"Once I got rid of that mind-set, I had more understanding of the game situation. I understood when I needed to change the way I play in terms of being a little bit more defensive because, in the long term, that could be better for the team.

"So, [I understood that], if I stay in longer and survive the tough bits, then I can go up into fourth or fifth gear."

While winning the Ashes in Australia remains one of Stokes' key ambitions, he feels winning in India would represent just as big an achievement. And, with the series poised at 1-1 and the prospect of a match in which seamers could play a prominent role ahead, he feels the next couple of weeks presents "a great chance" for England to secure a rare series victory in India.

"As a cricketer, if you can retire having won an ICC event, the Ashes at home, the Ashes away and this tour, for me, is one of those: beating India in India, it would be amazing," he said. "It would be amazing to stay I've been able to accomplish all those things.

"I still need to tick off another two: Australia in Australia and India here. But we've a great chance to do that over the next couple of weeks."

To follow the action from India, download the talkSPORT app, re-tune your DAB radio, listen at talkSPORT.com or tell your smart speaker to 'play talkSPORT 2'. Coverage starts at 8am with live play from 9am.