Tim Paine slammed Ben Stokes and accused the all-rounder of picking and choosing the competitions he wants to take part in. (Image: Twitter)
Former Australian Test skipper, Tim Paine slammed Ben Stokes on reversing his ODI retirement implying that the all-rounder picks and chooses where he plays.
Former Australian Test captain, Tim Paine shared his thoughts on Ben Stokes coming out of retirement for the upcoming ODI World Cup held in India from October 5 to November 19. Paine believes that Stokes had the option to pick and choose the events he wanted to take part in.
To put matters into context, English all-rounder, Ben Stokes made his decision to come out of retirement from ODI cricket. Stokes had previously announced his retirement from the 50-over format last year. This means that the Player of the Match from England’s 2019 World Cup winning final will be available to defend the title in India.
“Ben Stokes coming out of one-day retirement, I found that interesting. It was a bit of, ‘Me, me, me’, there isn’t it? It was, ‘I’ll pick, and I’ll choose where I want to play and when I want to play’, and ‘I’ll play in the big tournaments’. The guys who played for 12 months, ‘Sorry, thanks. But can you go and sit on the bench because I want to play now?,” said Paine on SEN Radio.
Stokes, though, will feature in the ODIs as a specialist left-handed batter due to his chronic left knee injury that hampered his role as an all-rounder during this year’s Ashes. With Stokes coming in, England left out young in-form batter Harry Brook.
Though Paine wasn’t convinced about Stokes’ return at the expense of Brook, he admitted England should enter the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup as favourites alongside hosts India.
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“I don’t know, he’s not bowling. Harry Brook or Ben Stokes? As a bat. It would be very close, very, very close. Probably (England are now favourites), them and India. I think the Aussies if they can get hot (they can also win).”
England will open their 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 campaign against New Zealand in what will be the re-match of the 2019 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5. The ten-team tournament will conclude with the final to be held in Ahmedabad on November 19.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – IANS)