Watch: On his way to a quickfire fifty that set the tone for the morning session on day two of the India-England Chennai Test, Ben Stokes took on India’s spinners in a dominating display of run-making.
Stokes hit a couple of sixes in the first session of day two, combining with Joe Root to add 92 runs to England’s overnight score before lunch, regularly swiping deliveries to the leg side, and employing the reverse sweep to stunning effect.
He started in sedate fashion, moving to seven runs off his first 15 deliveries, before Ravichandran Ashwin’s 27th over gave Stokes a chance to get going. Off the fourth delivery of the 95th over, Ashwin tossed up a delivery on the off stump, and Stokes responded with a thumping six.
Stokes took half-a-stride forward and nonchalantly lifted the ball over long off, launching it away with ridiculous ease. The ball had enough on it to sail well over the ropes, giving an early glimpse of Stokes’s approach against India’s spinners. Over the next hour, he went on to target Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, finishing with 63 off 98 balls at lunch.
Watch the six off Ravichandran Ashwin here:
Later in the innings, he connected one of his leg-side hoicks beautifully to send Nadeem over the ropes.
