Ben Stokes ready to reverse retirement for 2023 World Cup, would miss IPL 2024 if needed
England Test captain Ben Stokes is ready to reverse his ODI retirement to help his team defend their title in the 2023 ODI World Cup, according to The Telegraph. The all-rounder will join Tamim Iqbal and Moeen Ali, among other cricketers, to come out of their retirement if England's ODI captain Jos Buttler asks him to.
There are concerns regarding Stokes' injury-prone knee, which prevented him from bowling in the 2023 Ashes. However, he's said to be open to missing out on IPL 2024 and leaving his ₹16.25 crore contract with Chennai Super Kings to get some more time for recovery after the World Cup.
He retired from ODIs in July 2022 because he couldn't "give my teammates 100% of myself in this format anymore" and wanted to give his best in Tests and T20Is. The 32-year-old hinted at coming out of retirement once but almost settled the conjectures last month by saying that he wanted to sort his knee out first.
"I am retired," Stokes told reporters in July. "[My knee] is something I want to get sorted. [Between the Ashes and India] is a good time to have some serious in-depth conversations about what is potentially something I could do where I can bowl without worrying about my knee."
Buttler and England are prepared to let him play as a specialist batter in the middle order if he can't bowl. Stokes was the Player of the Match in the 2019 World Cup final where he scored an unbeaten 98-ball 84. The left-hander's 465 runs at an average of 66.43 also made him a close contender for the Player of the Series too.
The most he bowled with his right-arm pace was seven overs against Pakistan at Trent Bridge. He played the role of the sixth bowler in other games, delivering four to six overs every game, for seven wickets at an average of 35.14.
Ben Stokes' record in India
Ben Stokes has played nine ODIs in India, scoring 255 runs, including three fifties, and picking nine wickets. His batting average of 51 and strike rate of 138.59 is his best for any country (minimum of three games). His bowling average of 37.33 is also his third-best. No wonder England want him in the team!