IPL 2017: Ben Stokes And MS Dhoni Planned A Strategy To Chase Down GL score!

Dec 22, 2018 at 4:35 PM

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IPL 2017: Ben Stokes And MS Dhoni Planned A Strategy To Chase Down GL score!

In a bidding room, the teams fighting for the player they have an eye on is a common occurrence! Maybe any uncapped player or international player or someone from national team – the franchises seem to get to any extent to bag their favourites. The tenth season was no different!

Remember Delhi Daredevils bidding Rs 16 crores for Yuvraj Singh in 2015? Or how this year, Eoin Morgan, picked up by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 2 crore, has been underwhelming.

Tymal Mills, the second-highest paid a player to go under the hammer this year at Rs 12 crore, has made the starting XI in just five of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s matches this year. But eyes were rolled when Rising Pune supergiants bought Ben Stokes for the price of 14.5 crores.

Stokes has been the object of much ridicule in the last year or so. It began after the WT20 final against the West Indies, where he conceded four consecutive sixes against Carlos Brathwaite. Memes and GIFs of his distraught face made the rounds, most evoking pathos, but some cruel laughter.

The memes followed him after the IPL auction.

“Ben Stokes can buy his own PSL team,” said one, referring to how the price paid for him was more than the salary cap of the each Pakistan Super League franchise.

But no matter how much heavy the tag is, champions know how to make their worth count!Once on the field, Stokes took some time to settle down. He had just one wicket in his first four games and a just one-half century in seven innings before Monday night’s innings. Then he missed two games due to a muscle tear in his right shoulder, sparking fears that England might recall and bubble wrap him to ensure that he recovered well in time for the Champions Trophy. His performances with the ball had already won him two Man of the Match awards. Now it was the turn of his bat to work for a living.

Ben Stokes finally announced himself and justified his tag of the most expensive player in the auctions this year by registering his first ever T20 century against Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League to help his side Rising Pune Supergiant chase down 162 in a  chase. He won the man of the match award for his unbeaten 103 which included 7 fours and 6 sixes.

When Lions made 161, everyone thought that they restricted below par by Supergiant bowlers but when Lions fought back reducing hosts to 4 for 42, lions .people started backing Lions. Before the powerplay was done, both Tripathy and Tiwary had been dismissed. This was the setting when Stokes walked in at five. 10 for three, and later 42 for four when MS Dhoni joined him.

A 76-run partnership between the pair followed.After 26 runs from 33 balls, Dhoni was dismissed, with Pune still needing 44 runs in about four overs.

Stokes had hardly been slacking till then. He was on 72 off 49 balls, exhausted but eyes fixed on the target. He kept on hitting runs over covers and all-around. But the shot that brought up his hundred was perhaps the most memorable. Not because of the personal milestone, but because it was the kind of cover drive that evokes cries. In the short history of the franchise, Stokes played an innings that the history of IPL will remember.

When asked about his struggle in the ultimate heat of Pune, Stokes said,

“It is a cramp in the calf. I get that a lot. Legs are not the best at the moment but I will be okay.”

Stokes was limping during the end overs of their chase. But held his nerves and won the game for his side on almost one leg.

When asked about how hard it is for an all-rounder to give his best in both departments without relaxing, he added,

“It’s great to be a part of both sides of the game; that’s the best thing about being an all-rounder. The rest of the last match did me some good. I felt my training was slipping away. It was quite a good thing to go to the nets and hit the ball properly.”

“We lost a few early wickets, and the start didn’t help. I and MS tried to tick along and get something going, And try and capitalise later, first cooling off and taking it over by over. It’s always nice, personal accolades and stuff like that, but we are on a roll as a team,” he concluded in the post-match presentation.

Supergiant now will travel away from home after a scintillating win to Eden Gardens, Kolkata where they will play against a complete T20 side Kolkata Knight Riders.

That’s was definitely a gem of an innings to play, an innings to be always scripted as the best grade in the history of IPL, a story of answering back to many, a story well written by Stokes!

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