Ricky Ponting compares Ben Stokes with MS Dhoni

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has compared English test skipper Ben Stokes with MS Dhoni.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has compared Ben Stokes with Former Indian captain MS Dhoni. Ricky Ponting has compared Stokes' match-winning ability to Dhoni. Ben Stokes almost took England home single-handedly with his 155-run innings at The Lord’s. Stokes lacked support from the other end to replicate his Leeds 2019 magic in the Ashes.

England were given a target of 371 runs and Australia managed to win the game by just 43 runs. England captain Stokes won many praises around the World for his effort. Stokes was not scoring many runs before his Lord’s innings, but under pressure, he came good against Australia’s short ball attack.

Ponting compares Stokes with Dhoni

Former Australian captain Ponting said, “The first one that comes to my mind is maybe someone like a Dhoni, who’s there at the end in a lot of T20 games and finishing games whereas Ben’s doing it at the end of test matches, and there’s not probably not many, many players through the history of the game that have found themselves in that sort of role and are there at the end winning games, and especially as captain”.

Talking to ICC Review Ponting said, “I think any international player is under pressure anytime they walk out to play, but Ben batting in the middle order or later order as he does, probably finds himself in more match-winning opportunity situations than some others might”. 

Australia have taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 against England in the ongoing Ashes series. Australia won the first test by a close margin of just two wickets while they won the second test by 43 runs. Australia’s conventional cricket overpowered England’s new ‘Bazzball’ tactics and England have found themselves in a vulnerable position due to their over-aggressive approach. Leeds Headingley will host the third test between England and Australia starting on the 6th of July, Friday.