“Respect”: Virat Kohli expresses his admiration for Ben Stokes on his ODI retirement

Indian batter Virat Kohli has sent a classy message to Ben Stokes after the all-rounder announced his retirement from ODI cricket.

Ben Stokes surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from ODI cricket. Stokes has played 104 ODIs for England, where he has scored 2919 runs at 39.45, whereas he has also scalped 74 wickets with the ball.

He was also a part of England’s 2019 World Cup-winning side. Born in New Zealand, Ben Stokes will continue to lead the test team, and he will also be available to play the T20 format with the English team. The first ODI against South Africa will be his last ODI.

“I have loved every minute of playing with my mates for England. We have had an incredible journey on the way,” Ben Stokes said in his statement.

“I will give everything I have to Test cricket, and now, with this decision, I feel I can also give my total commitment to the T20 format.”

Virat Kohli expresses admiration for Ben Stokes

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli has expressed his admiration for Ben Stokes on his Instagram post about retirement. Virat Kohli called Stokes the most competitive bloke he played against in his career.

“You’re the most competitive bloke I’ve ever played against,” Virat Kohli commented on Ben Stokes’s Instagram post.

 

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A post shared by Ben Stokes (@stokesy)

Virat is going through a rough phase, where he has been struggling to find his groove in all three formats of the game. There have been a lot of calls regarding dropping Virat from the team, but captain Rohit Sharma has openly backed his selection in the team.

Kohli last scored a century in any format of the game in 2019, where he scored a century against Bangladesh in the pink-ball test in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. He has struggled in the IPL as well for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Despite all the recent failures, the stats of Virat Kohli are one of the best in the business. He has scored 12344 ODI runs at 57.68, whereas he also has 8074 test and 3308 T20I runs under his belt. Virat is also the highest run-scorer in the history of IPL.