Ben Stokes no different to Tom Hartley claims Aakash Chopra as he slams the England captain

Former India batter Aakash Chopra who was on commentary duty for the India Vs England 5-match Test series, shut down all comparisons between England’s Test captain Ben Stokes and Ian Botham. Stokes is often, by the English media, compared with the former all-rounder and national team captain who was a sensation during the 80s.

Aakash Chopra who had been adding salt to the wounds of co-commentator Owais Shah throughout the series, couldn’t understand what the comparisons were all about. While speaking on his latest YouTube video, Chopra claimed that Stokes should not be compared with the legendary Ian Botham, especially after such a tormenting series loss.

The English contingent after losing the series in Ranchi, lost by an innings and 64 runs yesterday at Dharamshala to head back home with a 4-1 drubbing. It was England’s worst-ever performance in a Test series since the Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes regime began in 2022.

Aakash Chopra points out Stokes has equal runs as Tom Hartley

Much like Michael Vaughan throws jabs at the Indian team (now it has slowed down), Aakash Chopra was in a mood to rattle the English media. He was specifically critical about them comparing Stokes to an English legend like Ian Botham. For those who don’t know, Botham, during the 80s was an established figure in England’s sporting scene and was among the all-rounders who retired after 5000+ Test runs along with 300+ wickets.

Chopra reminded the English media as well as the fans that Ben Stokes had a similar performance as Tom Hartley with the bat. Only 14 runs separate Stokes from Hartley in the run-scoring chart of the Anthony De Mello Trophy 2024. While Stokes finished with 199 runs, the left-arm off-spinner accumulated 185 runs from 10 innings each.

With that in mind, Aakash Chopra asked how can Stokes be compared to Botham when the former himself didn’t score anything significant in the series which concluded yesterday.

“The England media is saying that Ben Stokes is at par with Ian Botham as an all-rounder. I am saying the truth is that he has been extremely disappointing as a batter in this entire series. Despite scoring 70 runs in the first match, his and Tom Hartley’s runs are almost equal.” – Chopra said via his latest YouTube video.

The very few positives that came out from the series were James Anderson’s completion of 700 Test wickets, England’s 2 off-spin finds – Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir and otherwise it was all disappointment. It was the batting front that mainly flopped in the series and when they land in the UK, McCullum and Stokes will have plenty of tasks in hand.

Chopra says Jonny Bairstow batted as if he wanted to break Jail and escape

One of the main causes for England’s shambolic loss was the form of their middle-order, especially Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. Root still managed to score a hundred (4th Test) and a fifty yesterday, Bairstow never got going other than the verbal spat he had with Ashwin and Gill at Dharamshala.

After watching him bat closely, Aakash Chopra felt that Bairstow didn’t show confidence and that he was in a hurry whenever he came to bat.

“Jonny Bairstow doesn’t play while standing in his position because he doesn’t have the confidence to do that. He is not reading the ball from the hand and the big shots are a cop-out. Whenever you saw Jonny Bairstow play, you felt like he wanted to break jail and escape.” – Chopra concluded.