Rohit Sharma's old friend sings praise for Ben Stokes, shows mirror to Indian captain

England captain Ben Stokes has been hailed for his captaincy during the second half of the first Test against India in Hyderabad. England won the first Test by 28 runs and are currently leading the five-match Test series by 1-0. India was leading by 190 runs after the first innings and then Ollie Pope played a brilliant innings scoring 196 off 278 deliveries. India had to score 231 runs in the fourth innings to win the Test match and in return, they were bundled for 202 losing the match by 28 runs.

Ben Stokes was hailed by former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha who rated Stokes’ captaincy 10/10 in the second half of the game. Ojha was quite impressed with the way Ben Stokes rotated his bowlers and how he placed his fielders according to the bowlers. He was also impressed with how Ben Stokes used injured Jack Leach in the second innings.

“It was 10/10, the way he (Ben Stokes) led the side in the second half, he rectified all the mistakes quickly because the main thing was how many boundaries were scored in the first innings,” Pragyan Ojha said to Cricbuzz.

“Then see the second innings and how he reduced them, then the field placements, he kept in and out field placements respective to the bowlers and along with that the way he used his bowlers. We were talking about how Joe Root was not used for a long time and he brought him immediately with the new ball.”

“Then we saw when he (Ben Stokes) got Mark Wood in the action, there was a change in his length as he was bowling a bit forward and was bowling in a particular channel, and then we saw how smartly he used Jack Leach. He knew that Leach was injured but it was important that England use them,” Pragyan Ojha added.

“Then we saw how wisely he gave some confidence to Rehan Ahmed when he knew that they had some control in the game, he made him bowl a few overs and the things which were missed in before, he rectified those,” Pragyan Ojha further added.

Ben Stokes Has A Great Record As England’s Captain

England appointed Ben Stokes as Test captain in 2022 succeeding Joe Root and since then his captain-coach duo with Brendon McCullum has transformed the England team into a winning unit. Ben Stokes is yet to lose a Test series as a captain and in the 20 Test matches that he has captained as of now, he boasts a terrific record of 14 wins with five defeats and one draw.

Ben Stokes is prepared for the second Test in the five-match series against India which is scheduled to commence on Friday, February 2 at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam. England is leading the series 1-0 and now they are hoping to win the second Test as well to maintain their lead. India has not lost a home Test series since 2012 when they were last defeated by England but the second Test will be a huge challenge as two big names have been ruled out of the second Test for India.

KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja are set to miss the second Test due to their respective injuries whereas Virat Kohli already opted out of the first Test because of personal reasons. Meanwhile, England will be fielding their best side against India in the second Test and will hope to win the match. Washington Sundar, Saurabh Kumar, and Sarfaraz Khan have joined the Indian squad following the ruling out of Rahul and Jadeja.