Irfan Pathan Cites That India Has The Potential To Produce A Ben Stokes-Like Player

According to former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, India too has the potential to produce a match-winner like Ben Stokes. England all-rounder Ben Stokes’ recent Test performances have persuaded most of the teams wanting a player like him in their side. Such has been the impact of Stokes on the English team that on more occasions than one he has triggered a sensational turnaround to take his side past the finish line.

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When the Test series between England and the West Indies began, Ben Stokes was second in the all-rounder’s rankings. After the second Test, the 29-year old toppled Jason Holder to take the number one spot, courtesy of his stellar showing. He scored 254 runs in the match while also taking three wickets as England levelled the series.

In the Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected, Irfan Pathan remarked that the Indian team does have the potential. He cited the examples of Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja, stating that such guys would have to go a level up and put up match-winning performances to be in the same league as Stokes.

“We have potential in the country. It’s not like we don’t have any potential. We have Hardik Pandya, we tried Vijay Shankar for some time. We have guys who bowl spin and are all-rounders like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but the kind of match-winning impact you want to have from a fast-bowling all-rounder, you need to make sure that these guys, the names I took, should come up, go out there and win matches for your country to be in the same league as Ben Stokes,” Pathan stated.

“The potential needs to convert into performances” : Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan went on to say that Hardik Pandya needs to be promoted up the batting order to produce memorable performances. Pathan feels that he has all the potential and swashbuckling all-rounder needs to make full use of it. In IPL for Mumbai Indians, Pandya has played in 48 out of 61 innings at spots of four to seven.

“If you look at Hardik Pandya’s career, even in the small number of matches, he needs to go one or two steps ahead of what he’s doing at the moment,” Pathan said.” It’s all about winning matches. No doubt, he’s got all the potential, which he has, and in terms of support that he is getting as well [from the team],” the Baroda cricketer added.

At the same time, the 35-year old mentioned that the team combination needs to be looked at to facilitate the Ben Stokes kind of performances. Pathan said that at the end of the day it’s Hardik who has got to take the initiative do it for his side.

“But, looking to bat higher up the order, then the team combination comes into play. He’s doing that – when it comes to batting up the order for Mumbai Indians and he’s delivering that. If it happens for Indian cricket, with the kind of combination that they are looking at, he might be able to produce a similar result which Ben Stokes [does]. But he has to do that, not just ‘we’re talking about it’. The potential needs to convert into performances,” he concluded.

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