5 Point approach: How Ben Stokes constructed his masterclass hundred

Ben Stokes has always been considered a genuine all-rounder but ever since Carlos Brathwaite took him for four sixes in the world T20 finals, it is his bowling which is mostly talked about.

Even in IPL 2017, prior to his match against Gujarat Lions, he had won two Man of the Match awards and both were for his bowling. But everything changed after his masterclass batting performance yesterday.

Extra Cover: 5 things that helped Ben Stokes vs Gujarat Lions

Coming to bat in the second over at the score 10/3 while chasing 162, the England all-rounder produced one of the best hundreds in T20 cricket. It included massive sixes and powerfully struck fours, but what stood out during this innings was Stokes’ determination to stay until the end and his skills of constructing a big score.

Here, we talk about the five major features of this batting masterpiece which enabled Rising Pune Supergiant to win their sixth game.

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#1 The old-fashioned approach to batting

‘Go back to the basics’ is a popular advice given by coaches to batsmen when batting is not easy; Ben Stokes did exactly the same. He came to bat in a crunch situation which required him to bring out his best for mere survival.

The southpaw responded to the challenge by approaching the good old method of batting which is to play safely in the beginning by not looking for big hits and then once set, going for the high-risk strokes.

How Stokes constructed his innings

Balls	Runs	Strike Rate	4’s	6’s	Dot balls
0-10	12	120	2	0	6
11-20	14	140	1	1	3
21-30	17	170	0	2	4
31-40	12	120	1	0	2
41-50	18	180	1	1	1
51-60	25	250	1	2	0
61-63	5	166	1	0	1
Total	103	163.49	7	6	17

Stokes began his innings quietly by scoring 26 runs in his first 20 balls and then slowly accelerated, accumulating 29 runs from his next 20 balls and went berserk at the end as he scored 48 runs from his last 23 balls.

By curbing his natural aggressive style of batting in the beginning, the southpaw displayed tremendous mental control and by smashing bowlers during the latter stages he proved his hitting prowess.

#2 Attacking at the start of the over

The Englishman went after the bowling at the start of the over

“We just tried to go big at the start of the over and cool it off,” is what Stokes replied when he was asked about his batting plan. This strategy of getting the big hits in the early part of the over is effective as it allows the batsman to play freely during the later stages of the over and also keeps the bowlers in pressure.

Stokes' strategy for different balls of the over

Balls of the over	Balls faced	Runs scored	Strike Rate	4’s	6’s
1st	8	21	262.50	2	1
2nd	9	31	344.44	2	3
3rd	7	15	214.28	1	1
4th	5	6	120	0	0
5th	7	17	242.85	1	1
6th	10	13	130	1	0

Stokes struck only three boundaries during the last three balls of the over; his strike rate during this period was 131.18, which is very low when compared with his strike rate of 279.16 during the first three balls of the over.

#3 Picking out the right bowlers to attack

Stokes played Ankit Soni, who was troubling him, sensibly, and went after other bowlers

One of the important factors batsmen talk about while chasing is targeting one bowler from the opposition. The targeted bowler is not always the weak link in the bowling unit but is chosen based on dynamics like nature of the wicket, bowling style, and ground size.

Ben Stokes was impeccable in this regard during his innings of 103. Gujarat’s pacers were spitting venom with the new ball so Stokes played them out, while against Ankit Soni, whose leg-spin bowling was getting considerable help from the wicket, the Englishman used a defensive approach.

His biggest scoring opportunity was against Jadeja who spun the ball into him, allowing him to hit without taking much risk. He went after the Indian spinner, smashing consecutive sixes and then attacked the medium pacers when the ball lost its shine.

He also went all guns blazing against the medium pace of Dwayne Smith who was introduced to stall the momentum.

Stokes against various bowlers

Bowler	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	4’s	6’s
Jadeja	15	6	250	0	2
D Smith	21	10	210	2	1
Thampi	29	15	193	2	2
P Sangwan	18	11	163	1	1
Faulkner	13	11	118	2	0
Ankit Soni	7	10	70	0	0

Although the above table indicates that the RPS all-rounder scored 29 runs off 15 balls from Basil Thampi, it is interesting to note that 22 of those runs came from seven balls, which the Gujarat bowler delivered in his second spell.

#4 Playing in front of the wicket

The left-hander played shots in the ‘V’ behind the bowler

While choosing his hitting areas, Stokes once again went to the old fashioned method of batting which is playing in the ‘V’ or playing with a vertical bat.

It is very interesting to note that Gujarat bowled 30 balls in the area between short and short of good length, and Stokes managed only 35 runs from it with a strike rate of 116.66. He smashed 68 runs from 28 balls at a strike rate of 242.85 for balls which were delivered in the good length region or at the full length.

Stokes strong in front of the wicket

	Runs	4’s	6’s	% of runs
In front of the wickets	85	1	1	82.52
Behind the wickets	18	6	5	17.47

This table indicates how Stokes was dominant in front of the wickets and the fact that all but two of his 13 boundaries were scored in this region is reflective as well.

#5 Taking calculated risks

Stokes has a century and half-century in his first IPL season

A key factor in constructing a big innings in cricket is to minimise risks and play safe strokes. Out of the 63 balls Stokes faced, only 13 were boundary shots which indicates the few risks he took.

Stokes' scoring shots

Strokes	Balls	% of total balls	Runs scored	% of total Runs
Dot balls	17	26.98	_	_
1’s	27	42.85	27	26.21
2’s	6	9.52	12	12.36
4’s	7	11.11	28	27.18
6’s	6	9.52	36	34.95

Stokes hit a boundary every 4.84 balls to keep the run rate under control and scored a single every 2.33 balls to keep the opposition on their toes.

Close to 40% of Stokes’ runs came from singles and doubles which allowed him to push his innings till the end, while by scoring about 60% of runs through boundaries, the southpaw scored quickly when the required run rate was eight runs per over.