Ben Stokes opens up about Kevin Pietersen's 'beer' criticism

Dynamic English all-rounder Ben Stokes has emerged as one of the top performers in world cricket in the recent times. His meteoric rise in the ranks can well be credited to his successful maiden IPL stint this year for the Rising Pune Supergiant. He went into the tournament with the tag of being the most expensive player of the season. He justified his price tag with some stunning all-round show.

Sadly for the RPS camp, Ben Stokes had to part ways with the team after the league stages. He had to head back home to join the national side for their preparations for the Champions Trophy. He did not feature in the playoffs. English cricketer Kevin Pietersen had condemned this move and had called it disappointing to see the players like Stokes and Jos Buttler chugging beers instead of playing the playoffs.

He took to the social media to speak about the same as he wrote, “Absolutely PATHETIC that @benstokes38 & @josbuttler have to go drink a few beers in Spain instead of playing IPL finals!”

Brouhaha over Spain

In response to this, Stokes and Joe Root trolled KP back with a workout video. They tried to indicated that they were not wasting time in Spain but working hard for the Champions Trophy. Recently, Ben Stokes elaborated on the same story in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo. Stokes noted that the entire scene perspired because it took place in Spain. Spain is renowned for parties and hence the entire brouhaha.

“I think there was a lot of criticism about that purely because it was in Spain. If we’d done something like that in England, I don’t think there would have been a bean said at all,” he quoted.

“The reasons for that were to get together as a team and not get disturbed by anything or anyone around us. We did a lot of fitness work, fielding work and a lot of team bonding stuff, whether that be golf in the morning, or a quiz at night time. But I think the whole thing got blown up because it was in Spain and obviously you associate Spain with sunshine, beer, parties and not hard work. But we did a lot of hard work,” Ben Stokes conceded further.