Didn’t Take A Lot Of Persuading: Ex-England Opener Delivers His Verdict On Ben Stokes' Stunning Retirement U-Turn

Ben Stokes‘ decision to come out of retirement for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023 continues to divide opinions. The England Test captain retired from the 50-over format in July last year in order to focus more on Tests. Another potential reason behind the retirement was his chronic knee injury.

However, he took an unexpected U-turn on his decision a few weeks ago to help England defend their ODI World Cup title. While he has received praise from several quarters for his decision to help the team, he has also faced criticism from a few quarters.

Former Australia captain Tim Paine called the decision selfish, saying that it was not fair to the players who played for a year before being dropped ahead of the World Cup to make room for Ben Stokes.

Former England batsman Nick Knight belongs to the former category. The former cricketer-turned-commentator has heaped praise on Ben Stokes for his decision. Hailing him as a ‘once in a generational cricketer’, Knight said that he was not too surprised with the allrounder’s decision to play the ODI World Cup.

“I think we always felt that it was on the cards. I think having had a break from ODIs, got his mind focused on Test match cricket, all that he’d achieved in, being the experience that he had in the 2019 World Cup, being a World Cup champion, great mates with the team members, great mates with the captain,” Knight told sports journalist and anchor Jamie Alter on his YouTube podcast.

“Look, none of us know exactly how that conversation went with Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, but my gut feel is it didn’t take a lot of persuading. And he’s just a big match player, he’s a big tournament player,” he added.

Nick Knight praises Ben Stokes:

Speaking further, Knight highlighted the importance of Ben Stokes’ presence in the dressing room. The former England opener said that the allrounder’s presence is enough to boost the confidence of the players in the dressing room.

“I think it’s that with Ben Stokes, I imagine the players that are lucky enough to be in that dressing room with Ben, so we’d have a very similar feeling to the ones that I had, where it might be that you’re going at 10, 15 and over for four or five. Can we do it? Yeah, we can. Absolutely. We can,” Knight said.

“And I think when you’ve got a player and they’re very few that have ever played the game, but when you’ve got a player like that, I mean, you can’t really put into words. I use aura, and you can’t really put into too many words what that effect has, A, on your own team and, and of course, on the opposition team. Absolutely. I mean, once, once in a generation, cricketer is a bit of an understatement,” he added.

England will launch their title defence on October 5 by taking on New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.