Ben Stokes was only thinking of Bangladesh before final delivery
06:39 PM, July 16, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 09:07 PM, July 16, 2019

Stokes was only thinking of Bangladesh before final delivery

England batsman Ben Stokes gave a riveting account of his innings against New Zealand, especially the final delivery of the match and what was going through his mind before it was delivered. Incredibly, the Chirstchurch-born English all-rounder was thinking only about Bangladesh.

He was in the midst of the most unbelievable game of cricket and when England needed two from the last delivery, Stokes remembered to keep his cool. He learnt from the experience that Bangladesh had suffered in the T20 World Cup back in 2016.

"I think the only time I really thought about it was the second to last ball. All I could think about was Bangladesh in the World T20 when they needed the same and they just hit it in the air. All I was thinking was: "Don't get caught. Try and get one and get it to a Super Over at least." Then if I hit it into a gap, maybe we could get two. That was my process: just don't hit it in the air and get caught," Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Bangladesh had suffered a tremendous heartbreak during the T20 World Cup match against India after fighting tooth and nails before losing their cool in the final over with Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad falling to unfortunate wild slogs when the Tigers needed just 2 runs from 3 deliveries.

Stokes did not try to become the hero with a big hit in the last ball but when the 50-over match ended in a tie, he was nonetheless a little disturbed that the match had gone to Super Over. Stokes then shone again in the Super Over which ended in a tie, but England won the match due to hitting more boundaries.

"I was thinking, "Don't try and be a hero and do it with a six." I wish it had gone for two and hadn't come to that because my emotions were high. I wasn't best pleased with myself walking back to the changing rooms for that ten-minute turnaround.," Stokes said.


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