‘Bas India ke against mat khelna aise’ – Fans react as Ben Stokes hits highest ODI score by English batter, guides England to thumping win over NZ in 3rd ODI

England and New Zealand clashed against each other in the 3rd match of the 4-match ODI series at the Kennington Oval in London on Wednesday, September 13. The fans witnessed a run-fest from the English batters before they defeated the Blackcaps by a huge margin of 181 runs.

Meanwhile, England’s Test skipper and star allrounder Ben Stokes, who recently came out of his ODI retirement to take part in the upcoming ODI World Cup, smashed a record-breaking century and played a vital role in England’s monumental total of 368 runs.

Stokes played an 182-run knock which came off just 124 deliveries which included 15 fours and 9 sixes. With this innings, he surpassed Jason Roy’s record of the highest individual ODI score by an English batter. Roy scored 180 runs against Australia in 2018. Stokes would’ve become England’s first-ever player to hit a double-century but he departed in the 45th over.

I’m feeling much better: Ben Stokes

Stokes playing a knock like this is a good sign for the English team considering the upcoming major world tournament. England will be playing the opening match of the World Cup against New Zealand on October 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, Stokes talked about his knock in the post-match presentation and jokingly apologised to Roy for breaking his record.

“Really pleased. Apologise to Jason (Jason Roy – for breaking his record of highest individual score for England). We spoke about putting New Zealand under pressure and get to a good start and even after losing those early wickets, we wanted to be positive. Once we got going, we didn’t want them (bowlers) to settle. 

As experienced players, we need to guide the younger players. He (Malan) is a very consistent player, he is a very quality player, rotates the strike very well as well and missed out on the milestone after getting a strangle down leg. I’m feeling much better, Test matches are a bit longer but ODIs surely are not that demanding.” Stokes was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/mdrj007/status/1701975448622690539