It Was My Decision To Take On The Spinners: Ben Stokes

England swashbuckling all-rounder Ben Stokes has said that it was his decision to take the attack to the Indian spinner and let Jonny Bairstow go about his business at the other end.

In what was an assault for the ages, Ben Stokes smashed a whirlwind 52-ball 99- an innings which included 4 fours and ten monstrous sixes.

The most astonishing part of Stokes’ innings was that he scored his last 49 runs in a mere 11 balls during which he belted Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal.Pandya for six sixes and a boundary.

“We speak about match-ups in our changing room, I took the decision if the spinners come up, it was my match-up to take the risk and just let Jonny keep doing his thing. He’s in unbelievable form at the moment, you don’t need to be talking too much to him,” Ben Stokes told Star Sports after his match-winning 52-ball 99.

The English all-rounder also went on to heap high praise on the opening duo of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, who once again got their side to a brilliant start as they smashed 110 runs in just 16.3 overs.

“The amount of runs they (Roy and Bairstow) have scored is obviously amazing. But if you look at the way they have scored, it makes it even better. Their strike-rate is the best in the world in my opinion. Having those two at the top of the order to set the tone is fantastic,” Stokes added.

England’s batting approach came under scrutiny after the first ODI where they lost their 10 wickets for a mere 116 runs despite having got a blazing start from their openers.

Stokes said that it is pleasing to see that England didn’t go away from their values despite taking a beating in the first match.

“The most pleasing thing from us as a team is that we didn’t go away from our values as a team. We were bitterly disappointed in the first game with the way we played in the chase, but it was pretty clear that we were going out with the same intent as we always do,” added Ben Stokes.

Also Read: Some Of The Most Amazing Batting You’ll See When Chasing: Virat Kohli