5 things that helped Ben Stokes vs Gujarat Lions

#3 Battle vs leg spin

Stokes negotiated the spinners well

The battle of a leg spinner or a left arm orthodox against a left-hander is generally won by the batsman, who usually has the mid-wicket region to slog the ball with the spin. Stokes, though, has had a few problems facing leg spin in recent times, most notably against Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan.

Even yesterday, he was struggling to pick the youngster Ankit Soni, who made his IPL debut the previous game. He picked the googly well but was in doubt while playing the ball that slides on from the front of the hand, expecting it to turn inside whereas the ball simply skidded through. However, he did not throw his wicket away mid-innings.

Stokes was happy to see him off the attack without further damage. The leg-spinner returned with figures of 4-0-16-0, with Stokes managing to score 7 off 10 balls at a strike rate of just 70.