Ben Stokes has his say on batting up the order in T20Is for England
Ben Stokes has said that he is happy to be batting at No. 6 in T20Is despite many experts demanding his promotion up the batting order. The all-rounder added that everyone deserves to be where they are in the England batting lineup.
Ben Stokes had an average outing in the recently concluded T20I series against India. The English star scored 84 runs in three innings and with the ball, he took three wickets at an economy of 8.83.
Stokes said he doesn't see himself moving up the order for England even if he performs well at the top for the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming IPL.
"No, I don't think so(On whether him opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals will impact his batting position in England's team going into the World Cup). If you look at our T20 batting line up, everyone is there where they deserve to be. We have been formidable in the white-ball format over a number of years. So why would we change that? It's a talking point and always seems to pop up." Stokes said in a press conference.
The 29-year-old further added that England didn't need to make changes to their batting order following a series loss.
"Everyone deserves to be where they are in that batting lineup. Just because we lost a T20 series doesn't mean we need to start changing things around. When we win, nobody says too much, but when we lose, everyone starts to pipe up again. I'm happy with where everything is in our white-ball team because that's our best formula to win," he asserted.
Despite his destructive batting ability, Ben Stokes is yet to score a half-century in T20Is for England. Recently, Kevin Pietersen had urged the England team management to promote him to No. 4.
England are not getting the best out of Ben Stokes: Robert Key
Former England international Robert Key was vocal about using Ben Stokes at the top of the order. Key opined that the English team were not 'getting the best out of their best cricketer' in T20Is.
'I do know that they're not getting the best out of their best cricketer. If you have a look at Ben Stokes' stats in T20Is, one thing that is striking to me is that he hasn't even got a fifty. If he's coming in for the first five overs as an opener, he has got two hundreds in that time in the IPL. His game, I think, is more suited to earlier on." Key said on Sky Sports.
Ben Stokes has two IPL hundreds to his name, both of which came while he was opening the innings.
However, the all-rounder made it clear in his latest press conference that he is happy to be batting lower down the order for England in the T20Is.