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On 6th February, 2021, Ben Stokes joined Joe Root in a bid to help continue England’s dominance, with the visitors having piled up 263 runs on Day 1 of the 1st Test against India. At that juncture, even though the Three Lions seemed in the ascendancy, a couple of decent Indian counter-punches could’ve triggered a collapse.
Consequently, it was essential for Ben Stokes and Joe Root to stitch together a partnership that wouldn’t just grind the Indian bowlers into the ground, but also one that would keep the scoreboard ticking. However, their task was made significantly tougher when Shahbaz Nadeem, in the first session itself, got the ball to kick up off the surface on numerous occasions.
Unsurprisingly, the strip which had seemed docile for a major chunk of Day 1, had suddenly generated the kind of spice that has always been associated with an MA Chidambaram track. Yet, Ben Stokes and Joe Root barely allowed those moments of indiscretion to faze their thinking.
And, while the latter went on to compile a sumptuous double ton, it was perhaps the former that set the tone and enabled the English skipper to continue on his merry way.
By the time Ben Stokes was dismissed, he had powered the visitors to 387-4, scoring a bulk of runs as Joe Root kept the Indian bowlers at bay. However, more importantly, the manner of the runs Ben Stokes bludgeoned, made the entire world sit up and take notice.
In fact, if one were to traverse down memory lane, one might find a few resemblances between the knock Ben Stokes conjured on the 6th of February 2021 and the one that was scripted by one MS Dhoni, way back in 2013.
On that occasion, the Indian skipper walked out with the hosts tottering at 196-4, in pursuit of Australia’s first-innings total of 380. Back then, the pitch awaiting the wicket-keeper was into its third day, meaning that there were plenty of rough areas to contend with, especially against Nathan Lyon.
Yet, MS Dhoni barely flinched as he proceeded to cart the off-spinner all around the park – an endeavor that made Virat Kohli’s job at the other end easier. The current Indian captain caressed and carved his way to an excellently crafted hundred, even as MS Dhoni threatened to smash the cover off the ball.
Throughout that knock, MS Dhoni attacked the bowlers at the start of their spells – something that didn’t allow the likes of James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle the time to settle into a rhythm.
Most tellingly though, there weren’t any half-measures when MS Dhoni opted for a decisive blow. In fact, despite there being considerable risk attached to most of the shots he played, he never doubted his ability to nail those to perfection.
Similarly, on 6th February, 2021, Ben Stokes was confronted by Shahbaz Nadeem, pretty early in his essay. Additionally, there were significant bare patches outside the left-hander’s off-stump, which complicated things a lot more.
To put things into perspective, in the first few deliveries of Nadeem’s spell, he got the ball to bounce prodigiously off the surface, meaning that Ben Stokes was rapped on the gloves a couple of times. Also, he failed to connect with the reverse sweep – a shot that he deploys regularly, at the first time of asking.
Ben Stokes showcased his entire array of strokes
Akin to MS Dhoni though, Ben Stokes trusted his belligerent method and continued looking for opportunities to play the aforementioned stroke and muddle Nadeem’s lines and lengths. Furthermore, the all-rounder was always on the lookout for chances to come dancing down the track.
Ultimately, he succeeded on the final ball of the 111th over, when he cleared his front leg adequately and swept Nadeem into the stands over the mid-wicket fence. A little later, owing to Nadeem pushing the ball further into his pads, Ben Stokes resorted to the reverse sweep – a ploy that fetched him a brace of boundaries in the 113th over.
Post that, the left-arm spinner looked out of sorts and failed to hit the lengths that would’ve helped him extract assistance off the pitch. In a nutshell, Ben Stokes had accomplished what he had set out to achieve – domination.
Apart from that, Ben Stokes also found the wherewithal to attack Ravichandran Ashwin. And, boy, didn’t he do that with conviction.
In the 95th over, the Englishman nonchalantly skipped down the track and creamed a length delivery over the Indian’s head. Consequently, Ashwin began flattening out his flight a lot more, meaning that Ben Stokes had time to sit in his crease and play the sweep shot, without any real threat of the ball dipping and swerving away from him.
Unsurprisingly, in the 100th over, when the opening presented itself, on a fullish delivery outside off stump, Ben Stokes planted a massive stride across his stumps and belted a sweep shot towards the square leg fence.
Thus, over the course of a few overs, the English all-rounder had knocked two of India’s biggest threats off their lengths, meaning that they weren’t really able to extract the meagre amount of help that was on offer.
More vitally though, Ben Stokes, through his stupendous knock, had signaled that the Three Lions were up for the fight, indicating that they boasted the requisite poise and bravery to assault the Indians whenever the latter’s intensity dropped.
In fact, all those years ago, when MS Dhoni pulled that special rabbit out of the hat, which incidentally, was also at Chennai, he had highlighted that the Indians intended to make the Australians pay for every misstep.
In that series between India and Australia, the former emerged victorious quite comfortably, eventually posting a 4-0 score-line. Though it might be a little too premature to dub Ben Stokes’ innings as having a congruent effect, it certainly seems to posses the ingredients to morph into a series-defining knock.
While Joe Root might’ve gotten a larger volume of runs, the bravado and the swagger showcased by Ben Stokes could actually be the decisive tilting scale. And, if one were to use a boxing analogy to symbolize a clash of two heavyweights, the English captain softened the Indians before Ben Stokes landed a potentially knockout blow.
One couldn’t have expected anything else from Ben Stokes anyway, could one?
