Is Ben Stokes' Knee Injury Just A Smoke Screen? Lance Klusener Drops Bombshell Verdict On England's All-Rounder

Ben Stokes returned from his ODI retirement to defend England’s World Cup crown. The English all-rounder, who was England’s savior in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 finals, announced his retirement from the ODI format in 2022. Ben Stokes was the key player for England in their World Cup triumph in 2019 where he played a brilliant knock scoring 84 runs in the finals against New Zealand.

Ben Stokes decided to take retirement from ODIs to manage his workload and focus on other formats. He also suffered a knee injury and now refrains himself from bowling in matches. However, former South Africa cricketer Lance Klusener thinks that Ben Stokes’ knee injury is just for show as the all-rounder hardly misses a game for England.

“Always looks like he’s carrying an injury. Never misses a game. I don’t know what to make of it. Someone with a hunger for the game. Always nice to see him in any set-up, the extent of his knee injury; looks more for show than really anything. I haven’t seen him miss anything because of it. I think if it was a concern, they’d probably ask him to stop playing Test cricket and preserve him in some sort of way,” Lance Klusener said about Ben Stokes’ knee injury.

Ben Stokes Is Not The Main Concern For Opponents, Says Lance Klusener

Ben Stokes’ records in high-pressure games might have other teams prepare a strategy against him but Lance Klusener feels other players in the England Cricket Team can be more dangerous. He doesn’t think it wise to make strategies for one particular player.

“Ben Stokes is a proper good player but there’s ten other guys in that England team that are pretty decent so I don’t think there’s any real reason to be too concerned about one player. Scoring runs consistently in a place like India and the team that can do that will go deep into the competition,” said Klusener on making strategies against Ben Stokes.

England will play the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on 5th October against New Zealand, the same team they defeated in the finals of the 2019 World Cup to be crowned champions. Will New Zealand take revenge against the English side? However, England defeated New Zealand in the recently concluded ENG Vs NZ ODI Series and Ben Stokes scored 182 in a match against them.

Ben Stokes is ready to defend England’s World Cup crown and if he plays to his full potential alongside other English players who are in red-hot form, then England will be a force to reckon with in this World Cup. It will be interesting to see how far the defending champions go in this World Cup.