Ben Stokes credited IPL for his performance against Australia

Ben Stokes’ third ODI hundred propelled England to a 40-run win over Australia as per the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method at Edgbaston to send the 50-over world champions crashing out of the tournament at the group stage. With this win, England became the first team to fix their spot for the first semi-final.

While batting first, Australia set a target of 278 runs. England slipped to 32 runs for the loss of three wickets before the pair of allrounder Ben Stokes and skipper Eoin Morgan shared a record fourth-wicket England partnership and helped their side to upstage Australia.

Stokes smashed 102 runs off 109 balls which were laced with 13 fours and 2 sixes credited IPL for letting him experience the “big game” atmosphere. He also suggested that playing with top class player in the league has also helped him to take his game to another level.

Credits IPL for his performance against Australia

“I think that was my best innings in terms of chasing,” Stokes said. “I don’t think my record is too flash in terms of chasing for England in ODI cricket. It’s also nice on a personal level to be there at the end of a chase. The whole thing with the IPL is the exposure you get to big moments in games playing in front of a huge crowd all the time. You get exposed to those situations more,” Stokes said.

“At Edgbaston we were 35 for 3 but you can just mentally look back to a time in the past and reflect on that and also take confidence in knowing that you have been in that situation before and done well. You play against the best players in the world, whether batsmen or bowlers. Knowing that you have done well coming into a tournament like this it gives you confidence that you can do well against some of the world’s best batsmen and bowlers,” he added.

Backed himself

The most pivotal attribute required in the game of cricket is composure and it was quite relevant from Stokes’ batting against Australia. However, earlier, this wasn’t seen from him.

“I didn’t put any pressure on myself, I knew I could catch up. Obviously having someone like Eoin Morgan at the other end, playing like he is does, takes the pressure off. He is always looking to be positive and I think we are boundary-hitters, so we know that if we have a few dot balls it is not going to faze us too much.”

“We are always going to try to take the positive route regardless of the start that we get, play every good ball on its merit but at the same time we know we have got to be aggressive and on the front foot because that is what has made us such a dangerous team. Being 35 for 3 doesn’t mean there is any real reason for us to change that,” he concluded.