VIDEO | Ben Stokes pulls off a Sarfaraz Khan shot to get to his fifty

05/30/2019

Cricket is a funny game, with the ever-evolving standards and the frequency with which cricketers improvise has gone drastically up. In the opening game of the World Cup against South Africa, Ben Stokes executed a stroke, which Sarfaraz Khan is widely reckoned for, to reach the 50-run milestone.

After a rocky start, England were back on track with Jason Roy and Joe Root in command. They steadied the things in middle but a sudden collapse saw England being in troubled waters at 111 for 3 inside 20 overs. Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan took charge and ensured England didn’t have any further hiccups.

Stokes was looking to shift gears and milk as many runs as possible from the final 15. On the fifth delivery of the 36th over by Dwaine Pretorious, Stokes played a reverse scoop towards first slip and earned a boundary to reach the 50-run milestone. The ball was pitched almost on the Yorker length at a good pace and needed a different set of skills to execute it with perfection. Sarfaraz Khan has played this kind of strokes more often than not in the IPL and Stokes’ execution was highly reminiscent to it.

England were well placed in the game with Stokes and Morgan taking charge and one can expect more of these to come as the tournament progresses.