Anatomy of a Stokes masterclass

Ever since the last World T20 final, when he was hit for four sixes in the final over of the chase, Ben Stokes has been the subject of some ridicule, especially when sold for a record sum in the IPL auction. Two days before he goes back to his house of horrors, Eden Gardens, Ben Stokes produced one of the great Twenty20 innings. And he did so while hobbling with a cramp in his calf in the last three overs of the chase. Nothing can wipe off what happened in Kolkata last year, but Stokes has done enough in this IPL season to quell those doubts around him.

Coming into this match, Stokes had won two match awards but both for bowling. He had scored only 127 from seven innings before this, but in Pune, coming in to bat in the second over, at the fall of the third wicket. he scored 63% of his team's total. He had batted sooner in an innings only four times before that.

In his 126 a night before, a near-perfect T20 innings, David Warner batted with a 78% control percentage, which is phenomenal when you are attempting to hit a boundary every second ball. Stokes displayed 79% control. That control percentage was bound to be higher because he hit only one boundary every five balls as against Warner's one every three balls, but the fact Stokes couldn't afford to keep swinging made this innings special.

Stokes also struggled against legspinner Ankit Soni. He picked the wrong 'uns out of the back of the hand, but the sliders out of the front of the hand kept going past his outside edge. The 11 balls Soni bowled to Stokes, for seven runs, brought his control percentage down. So Stokes had to strike against others but in a calculated manner because four wickets fell within the first six overs, and because MS Dhoni faced 10 dots in his first 12 balls.

So Stokes struck against Ravindra Jadeja to break the shackles, and then kept finding the boundary every time the asking rate threatened to go out of hand.

Things can happen before you realise in T20 cricket. You are four down early, you are looking to arrest the slide, and two spinners can run through six overs in no time. When you look up at the board, you can be staring at an unachievable asking rate. The previous 19 balls had got Rising Pune just nine runs, with the asking rate shooting from 8.5 to 10. Then Stokes swung. Bang and bang, Ravindra Jadeja was hit over midwicket and long-on. The innings was back on track, and this was the last over Jadeja bowled because Gujarat Lions couldn't get rid of Stokes at all.

"Stokesy is a quality player and he certainly earned his cash."
Enough said, captain Steven Smith

"We lost quite a few early wickets... Me and MS [Dhoni] just tried to keep it ticking. We just tried to go big at the start of the over, and cool it off."
Ben Stokes on how he approached the chase