England all-rounder Ben Stokes revealed that he had decided to take the risk of attacking the Indian spinners and let Jonny Bairstow keep doing his thing in the second ODI against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday (March 26).
England thrashed India by 6 wickets in the second ODI to level the ongoing three-match ODI series with the final game scheduled on March 28 (Sunday) at the same venue.
Stokes launched a brutal assault on India's spinners and smashed a blitzkrieg knock of 99 off just 52 balls laced with 10 boundaries and 4 sixes. The all-rounder has also stitched a 175-run partnership with Bairstow (124) for the second wicket in just 18.5 overs to help England gun down a 337-run target with more than six overs to spare against India in the second ODI in Pune on Friday.
Bairstow and Stokes were severe on India's spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya during the second ODI with the all-rounder in a destructive mood to showcase his quality strokeplay before tickling a Kumar bouncer behind, but he had already set-up an easy win for England against India.
Stokes told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match: “We speak about match-ups in our changing room, I took the decision if the spinners come up, it was my match-up to take the risk and just let Jonny keep doing his thing. He's in the unbelievable form at the moment; you don't need to be talking too much to him. The amount of runs they (Roy and Bairstow) have scored is obviously amazing. But if you look at the way they have scored, it makes it even better. Their strike-rate is the best in the world in my opinion. Having those two at the top of the order to set the tone is fantastic.”
On England’s 66-run defeat in the first ODI, the all-rounder said: “The most pleasing thing from us as a team is that we didn't go away from our values as a team. We were bitterly disappointed in the first game with the way we played in the chase, but it was pretty clear that we were going out with the same intent as we always do. Great chase, really happy that we managed to get over the line easily especially when India set a challenging total. It was actually a better wicket than the first game.”
He signed off, “Over the years, we have set big totals, we have chased big totals. We don't really fear too much to be honest. We always go out and try to play as positive as we can. From a personal point and the team's point of view, it was great that were able to go out and express ourselves.”
(With ANI Inputs)
