Ben Stokes: The atypical Englishman who dispelled the million-dollar dud myth
When Andrew Flintoff hobbled out of the IPL 2009 with an aggravated knee injury and only three games under his belt, the owners of the Chennai Super Kings would have tugged at their hair in frustration. The Englishman had cost $1,550,000 to the franchise and had been a complete dud. Over the next few years, ECB’s relationship with the IPL took a bad hit, and the number of players from the country playing in the T20 league dried up to just a handful.
Cut to 2017. Benjamin Stokes left the Rising Pune Supergiant like a superhero, proving to be worth every penny (and more) of the $2,170,000 invested in him by the franchise, and ending as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. It was deserving recognition for one of the best all-rounders in the game currently.
Before him, the burden of huge paychecks had weighed heavily on his rich counterparts: Yuvraj Singh (2015), Pawan Negi (2016) and Glenn Maxwell (2013) had been some of the members of the million-dollar dud club.
How exactly did Stokes justify his price tag?
In its debut season last year, the Pune side was hit badly by the injury bug. The departures of Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Marsh left the franchise reeling, and the domestic players couldn’t do much from there on. The zing was clearly missing.
Stokes gave his side the X-factor it required. A complete package on the field, Stokes, despite a slow start, found form with the bat at crucial junctures in Pune’s games.
In 12 games for his side, he compiled 316 runs at a healthy average of 31.6 (remember, he used to bat at 4 or 5). The highlight of his batting was his ability to clear the ropes with ease and figure lines out in a jiffy.
If you bowled length at him, he would swat it to mid-wicket. If you teased him with width outside off, Stokes would reach it with ease and cream it over the covers.
In the field, he would move like a mamba, covering the ground with remarkable agility, pouching some blinders in the outfield (notably the boundary catch against Delhi Daredevils and the low pouch against Mumbai Indians in the final over). The intensity that emanated from his eyes after running out Sanju Samson with a direct hit symbolized the confidence of a man completely assured of his trade.
Stokes also has the ability to arrest the flow of runs and eke out wickets with his tight, skiddy pace. He used the white ball to good effect in the middle overs with two three-wicket hauls against the RCB and SRH.
But he still needed that ‘clinching’, memorable performance, not just to justify the hefty sum, but to actually be the vital middle order big-hitter that was needed by his team. He had scored some useful cameos, but a big knock was due.
The Supergiants were staring down the barrel at 10-3 against the Gujarat Lions at Pune, when Stokes strode out. He had scores of 2, 10 and 17 in the previous three games and had looked a little scratchy with the bat. What ensued was a masterful display in how to pace a T20 knock; he packed a powerful counter-attacking punch en route an unbeaten 103 to hunt down the target single-handedly. All the naysayers had been silenced.
Before he caught the boat to England, he grabbed three Man of the Match awards, only the second player to do that in his debut season. Stokes had risen to prominence, and how.
Flintoff, who had said that the IPL hadn’t motivated him when he played it, was going ga-ga over Stokes even before the tournament started. ‘Over the next few years, I think he’s going to show us exactly what he’s capable of.’ Stokes has already screened a trailer for us.
Stokes’ early departure hurt Pune, and even for a neutral cricket fan it was a touch disappointing to see the man leave before the playoffs. Just a few months before the IPL, he was battling it out against India. His on-field banter against Kohli had lit up the entire Test series, and the Indian fans, as much as they hated him doing well against the hosts, admired his tremendous self-belief and dedication towards the sport.
When he walked out in the Pune kit, he was welcomed with open arms by the same Indian fans. Such is the beauty of IPL, and players like Stokes help maintain its sheen, year after year.