Joe Root Believes Ben Stokes Can Inspire Similarly As Virat Kohli Does For Indian Team
Jun 18, 2020 at 8:31 PM
England Test captain Joe Root is doubtful for the opening game of the upcoming three-match home Test series against West Indies. While Ben Stokes can lead the England team for the first time during the first Test of this forthcoming series, Root feels that Stokes can inspire the English team like the present Indian captain Virat Kohli.
The opening Test of the upcoming series between the hosts England and the visitors West Indies will be played from 8th July at Rose Bowl (Southampton). English Test skipper Joe Root can be unavailable for this match as his wife can birth their second child at that time.
So, the 29-year-old English Test vice-captain Ben Stokes can take the leadership role during this Test match. Though Stokes has no experience as an England captain, Root has the high faith on this all-rounder. Root believes that Stokes can lead the England team from the front and encourage the entire team to perform very well, just like the Indian captain Virat Kohli every time does for his team.
In a recent chat show on Sony Ten’s ‘Pit Stop’, Root said, “You know Virat (Kohli) goes out there and performs and expects everyone to go and do the same within the same team and I imagine that’s how Ben will go about his business. I think Ben is better… Ben would make a better ‘Michael Jordan’ than me. He (Stokes) has a great quality, leads from the front, just as Michael Jordan did you know.”
Ben Stokes is already a big leader in the team as the vice-captain: Joe Root
Root further added that Stokes has already proved as a big leader inside the team in his vice-captain tenure. Root claimed that the team respected the 29-year-old all-rounder, and the regular English Test captain believes that Stokes has the ability to bring better result from the team.
Root claimed, “He’s already a big leader in the team as the vice-captain…There’s a huge amount of respect for him. He has obviously accomplished so much within the game and within Test cricket that he’s more than well enough equipped to do a really good job.”
At present, Ben Stokes is the second-ranked Test and ODI all-rounder. After his international debut in 2011, Stokes has played 63 Tests, 95 ODIs and 26 T20Is. The left-handed batsman has already scored 4056 Test runs (average 36.54), 2682 ODI runs (average 40.63) and 305 T20I runs (average 17.94). Meanwhile, as a right-arm pacer, Stokes has also taken 147 Test wickets, 70 ODI wickets and 14 T20I wickets.
Stokes played an important role for England’s victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and saving the team to lose from the home Ashes series in the last season (drew in 2-2).