When Ben Stokes announced 13 months ago that he would retire from ODI Cricket then there was this huge debate about the future of ODI Cricket if one of the biggest stars of the world was willing to give up this format to focus on Test Matches and T20 Cricket. Ben Stokes said that he was not able to play all 3 formats of cricket and therefore decided to give up ODI Cricket. However the recent news that he will return to the English side for the World Cup 2023 has been like a breath of fresh Air.
Let’s talk about why the return of Ben Stokes is great for ODI Cricket as a whole
Ben Stokes makes everything better and grander
Ben Stokes is not just any ordinary cricketer. He is one of the biggest match winners to have played cricket in the past decade. Ben Stokes has changed the fortune of English cricket single handedly in all 3 formats of the sport. In ODIs he was the reason that England won the 2019 ODI World Cup as he was the man of the match in the final. Ben Stokes shocked the world when he announced his ODI Retirement in July 2022. Ben Stokes has played in 105 ODIs and he has scored 2924 runs at an average of 38.88. He also has 3 hundreds and 21 half centuries to his name with a highest score of 102*. These numbers would not look great but the match winning ability of Ben Stokes is what made him special.
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Ben Stokes is an attraction, people want to go see cricket Matches just beautiful they want to see Ben Stokes play and show his magic with both bat and ball. In this return he will not be able to bowl as he has a sustained knee injury and he is returning for his country and after the World Cup he will go for surgery which will mean that he will miss the IPL next year but participating in the biggest tournament in cricket is an opportunity that comes only once in 4 years. Ben Stokes made a brilliant 84* in the 2019 World Cup where 241 was the score made by both the teams and England won by hitting more boundaries.
The 2023 World Cup also needed this boost because the buzz for the event has been lukewarm thus far and this one news that Ben Stokes will participate in the World Cup surely has a lot more people interested in seeing the Matches for England. He is a brand, just like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Steve Smith. The fans will pay good money to seeing him Play. And the good news does not stop there as Jofra Archer will most likely go to India as a reserve and both England and World Cricket need him to be fit as well. Now the World Cup feels like the most important tournament in cricket and there will be a lot more players like Kane Williamson who has been out since April will also try to get fit for the World Cup.
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