Ben Stokes calls himself a fan of both Steve Smith and Virat Kohli’s batting styles

Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson are the batting maseehas in the current generation of cricket. This new fab-four is ruling the world in all the three formats at the moment and will be taking up major responsibilities for their respective teams in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. It is not just the fans but fellow cricketers who look up to them as well. England all-rounder Ben Stokes certainly is inspired by Kohli and Smith’s batting style.

While Australia will aim to defend their World Cup title in England and Wales and bank on Smith, who will be playing for the national team after a gap of more than 12 months; Team India is led by Virat Kohli for the first time in World Cup and considered hot favourites to win the tournament. Kohli and Smith stand out as the best among the contemporaries and thus the world has its eyes on the two leading into the ICC event.

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith make the game look so easy, I am a fan of both: Ben Stokes

Virat is ranked No.1 in ODI format and has been on a roll in last few years having scored over 10,000 runs in over 220 matches with 41 centuries to his name, only second to the record holder Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49. Smith, on the other hand, will be looking to gain the lost respect in the game after the ball-tampering scandal and reassert his authority.

“They are both phenomenal players and have played quite a bit against both of them. You watch them play and they make the game look a lot easier than others do. So, I am a massive fan of both the players. They have both got their own styles and they are both different in the way they play, but they are both very very effective. You obviously play against guys to win, but at the end of the day you got to look at it from an angle that I love cricket and I love watching both Virat and Steve go about doing their jobs so consistently,” Stokes was quoted as saying by Timesnownews.

The England team is widely considered to be the favourites to win the tournament along with Australia, and India, who are tipped to make it to the semi-finals at least. The home team will open the World Cup with a match against South Africa on May 30.

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