'I knew that I would be playing in these games' - Ben Stokes' take on his comeback in ODIs for England

After the ODI series against India in 2022, Ben Stokes announced a shocking retirement from the ODIs. The All-rounder announced his retirement owing to the fact that there was a huge burden on him to perform in all the formats for England. Since there was a huge workload pressure, Stokes decided to give up on a format, which turned out to be One Day Internationals.  

Recently, England announced that Stokes would be back in ODIs for the series against New Zealand and the ODI World Cup 2023. In his comeback match, Stokes scored a fifty against New Zealand. In the latest ODI against New Zealand, Stokes registered his career-best score of 182 runs. Stokes spoke to the media in the post-match conference about his retirement and return.  

It was just the easiest thing to say - Ben Stokes

“Obviously I've been asked a lot about my knee over a long period of time, so I just said that to leave it. I knew that I'd be playing in these games and potentially in the World Cup then when I said that, but it was just the easiest thing to say that and put you (the media) off the radar," said Stokes and revealed that management and he did not want the attention from the media.  

The star All-rounder scored a sensational hundred against New Zealand, which helped the home side to register a dominant win against the visiting side. It is now the highest ODI score by a batter from England. The great knock of the Southpaw received praise from the fans, experts, former cricketers, media personnel, and his fellow teammates. Stokes spoke about the same.  

“Today was good for me personally, just to get familiarity again with how 50-over cricket goes. We started off and lost a few quick wickets, then wanted to go out and put them under a bit of pressure. There were a couple of times I had to check myself because I looked up and there were still 23-24 overs left - that's how one-day cricket can go," concluded Stokes.