5 Point approach: How Ben Stokes constructed his masterclass hundred

#3 Picking out the right bowlers to attack

Stokes played Ankit Soni, who was troubling him, sensibly, and went after other bowlers

One of the important factors batsmen talk about while chasing is targeting one bowler from the opposition. The targeted bowler is not always the weak link in the bowling unit but is chosen based on dynamics like nature of the wicket, bowling style, and ground size.

Ben Stokes was impeccable in this regard during his innings of 103. Gujarat’s pacers were spitting venom with the new ball so Stokes played them out, while against Ankit Soni, whose leg-spin bowling was getting considerable help from the wicket, the Englishman used a defensive approach.

His biggest scoring opportunity was against Jadeja who spun the ball into him, allowing him to hit without taking much risk. He went after the Indian spinner, smashing consecutive sixes and then attacked the medium pacers when the ball lost its shine.

He also went all guns blazing against the medium pace of Dwayne Smith who was introduced to stall the momentum.

Stokes against various bowlers

Bowler	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	4’s	6’s
Jadeja	15	6	250	0	2
D Smith	21	10	210	2	1
Thampi	29	15	193	2	2
P Sangwan	18	11	163	1	1
Faulkner	13	11	118	2	0
Ankit Soni	7	10	70	0	0

Although the above table indicates that the RPS all-rounder scored 29 runs off 15 balls from Basil Thampi, it is interesting to note that 22 of those runs came from seven balls, which the Gujarat bowler delivered in his second spell.