Ben Stokes Is A Captain’s Dream, Says Steve Smith

Australia star Steve Smith has lavished praise on his IPL teammate Ben Stokes, stating that the England allrounder is the type of player that every captain wants in his team. Both Steve Smith and Stokes will be sharing the dressing room together when they play for Rajasthan Royals in this year’s IPL, scheduled to start on September 19.

And ahead of IPL 2020, Steve Smith heaped praise on Stokes. The England superstar has looked unstoppable on the cricket field from the last one year or so.  Everything that he is touching is turning into gold. Last year, he starred in the World Cup to help England win their first-ever 50-over World Cup.

Few days after that, the allrounder helped England draw the Ashes at home. Earlier this year, Ben Stokes powered England to an impressive Test series win in South Africa and was also named ICC Player of the Year. Recently, he became the number one Test allrounder in the world after starring in England’s thumping win over West Indies in the second Test and helped England win the three-match series.

“I have seen Stokes go from strength to strength. He had an incredible World Cup and recently played in Test matches. He bowled beautifully and got some wickets as well,” Steve Smith told PTI during the screening three-part docu-series, Inside Story: A Season with Rajasthan Royals.

“He is a player who wants to be involved whether he is batting, bowling or fielding. He wants to be in hotspots. You want these players in team as they want to deliver in tough situations,” he added.

Before playing for Royals together in the IPL, Steve Smith and Ben Stokes will play against each other in September when Australia tour England for a short limited-overs series. Australia will resume their international calendar with the white-ball series. Speaking about it, Steve Smith said that nothing is better than getting to play some quality cricket after nearly seven months.

“It will be great being back to playing some cricket. We haven’t played a game since February and like most of the world, our country was also shutdown, had to find way to get through this Covid experience which has been incredibly different for everyone,” he said.

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