IND vs ENG: Ben Stokes Dubbed 'Once in a Generation Cricketer..', Ex-England Opener Gives Verdict on ODI U-Turn

Ben Stokes’ ODI retirement U-turn ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023 has been a much-talked-about point in the months leading into the tournament. Stokes had earlier retired from the fifty overs format but was convinced by the current England captain Jos Buttler to come out of retirement as the defending champions look to retain their World Cup crown.

The England all-rounder received massive praise as he was dubbed ‘once in a generational cricketer’ by former opener turned commentator Nick Knight.

Speaking to sports journalist and anchor Jamie Alter on his YouTube podcast, Nick, the former England opener turned TV analyst said that Stokes’ return wasn’t too surprising and Buttler wouldn’t have to persuade him too much to come out of retirement.

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“I think we always felt that it was on the cards. I think having had a break from ODIs, got his mind focused on Test match cricket, all that he’d achieved in, being the experience that he had in the 2019 World Cup, being a World Cup champion, great mates with the team members, great mates with the captain. Look, none of us know exactly how that conversation went with Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, but my gut feel is it didn’t take a lot of persuading. And he’s just a big match player, he’s a big tournament player,” said Nick.

Stokes recently registered his highest-ever score in the format, and also the highest-ever individual total by an England batter as he smashed 182 runs in 124 balls against New Zealand at the Oval.

Due to performances such as these, and his ability to change the course of the game with his presence, Knight felt that Stokes gives a lot of confidence to his teammates, in pressure situations.

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“And I, I think it’s that with Ben Stokes, I imagine the players that are lucky enough to be in that dressing room with Ben, so we’d have a very similar feeling to the ones that I had, where it might be that you’re going at 10, 15 and over for four or five. Can we do it? Yeah, we can. Absolutely. We can,” Knight stated.

“And I think when you’ve got a player and they’re very few that have ever played the game, but when you’ve got a player like that, I mean, you can’t really put into words. I use aura, and you can’t really put into too many words what that effect has, A, on your own team and, and of course, on the opposition team. Absolutely. I mean, once, once in a generation, cricketer is a bit of an understatement,” the 53-year-old added.

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