THE THREE KOHLIS ...DECENT , HOSTILE OR OUT CHEAPLY!
And that’s the one Stokes likes best as England bid to prevent India taking a clean sweep in Pune
BEN STOKES doesn’t care whether Virat Kohli is a model of diplomacy or a spiky agitator – as long as England see the back of him cheaply.
The Indian captain has morphed from a sportsmanlike opponent who helped Joe Root deal with cramp in the first Test to the firebrand who gave Jos Buttler a send-off in the T20 decider – and then called England’s spirit of the game into question.
But when Stokes was asked which version of Kohli he prefers, the World Cupwinning all-rounder laughed: “I prefer the Virat that doesn’t get runs. That would be nice.”
England must win today’s second ODI in Pune to stop India claiming clean sweep of Test, T20 and one-day series.
And they will lose their No.1 world ranking in the 50over format if India complete a 3-0 whitewash, a prospect enhanced by Kohli’s four dashing half-centuries in his last six white-ball innings.
The more Kohli has argued with umpires, tried to get under England’s skin or stood his ground in disbelief after being clean bowled by Moeen
Ali, the more India have prevailed.
But Stokes, who played his first ODI after a
“crazy” 619-day gap since the World Cup final in Tuesday’s 66-run defeat, is neither concerned about England losing their No.1 crown in the short term nor Kohli’s excitable conduct (right).
He said: “We’ve deserved to be No.1 because of our results and the way we’ve played our cricket – and we won’t go away from that.
“Being No.1 in the world is obviously a fantastic thing to have next to your name as a team, but our driving force is the way we go about it, staying true to ourselves and our attitude towards playing the game.”
Stokes, who will link up with Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals next month, is already resigned to spending the first half of 2021 mainly confined to bio-secure bubble life.
And he admits the routine has made him lose track of time.
He said: “I don’t even know what day of the week it is or what month it is. We’ve found a way of getting through it, but it’s tough going from cricket ground to hotel day-in, day-out.
“But if you look at it from a different way, there are a lot of people much worse off than us. At least we are able to do our jobs at the moment and we’re managing to give the public and people who love sport opportunity to watch us play.”