India vs England: Volatile, vulnerable, virtuous

England skipper Ben Stokes is all set to appear in his 100th Test match.

Rajkot: You know that sight when you compliment someone who isn’t used to accepting compliments? You know, the one where their response is either a joke or a folding-over in embarrassment?

Whether compliments are a rarity or a regular occurrence, low self-esteem will seldom allow for healthy acceptance. Ben Stokes folded over on Wednesday.

“Milestones are what they are,” is all he said after spending a few seconds leaning his head against his right shoulder. 

Stokes will go down as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the sport even if he wasn’t about to play his 100th Test in Rajkot from Thursday. 

He understands this fact as a cricketer and even wears this pride when he’s out on the field. But Stokes, the man, hasn’t fully accepted his own genius. 

This deep-seated insecurity which has plagued him all his life, occasionally pushing him down a mental spiral, isn’t resolved, and perhaps never will be, but why would that concern us, right?

Why would it matter if he doesn’t sleep countless nights due to bouts of depression and still ends up scoring 6251 runs from 99 Tests at an average of 36.34?

Why would it matter if he takes to finding solace at the bottom of the bottle when he can pick up 197 wickets?

Why would it matter if he has panic attacks before entering the field, and avoids loud conflicts if he goes down in history as one of the greatest Test captains of all time?

Maybe this is why Stokes should be cherished. The very fact that he has achieved everything he has despite all the demons he battles. 

Cricket as a coping mechanism is losing its charm on Stokes, his numbers have been down the last couple of years, but captaincy, which involves more than the sport alone, has become his calling.

He was always a team man, and there are plenty of knocks and spells to suggest that, but now, he is the team in the sense that his selfless attitude has percolated the rigid layers of English cricket.  

Since taking over as a skipper in 2022, his captaincy percentage stands at 63.42, meaning he has won 13 out of the 20 Tests he has led. 

Not just that, the integration of his new-age attitude with Brendon McCullum’s own brand from before has inspired a new wave. 

It’s called ‘Bazball’, and oppositions are on edge, but it’s only a matter of this before this revolution permeates the mindset of other countries, the younger generation.  

So, if this is a revolution, we couldn’t have asked for a better face to represent it.

That flame-orange hair of Stokes has darkened a shade since his debut in 2013, but that spirit that was first evidenced during the Ashes in 2013, remains. Ten years on, it remains, but it wears a wiser look to it. 

When the Rehan Ahmed visa predicament came up, Stokes said: “When you have a problem like that rather than try to blame someone you just have to try to find a solution and get it sorted. We’ve had two of those situations so far on this trip and we’ve managed to do that.”

The man has come a long way from doling out lip service to his team-mates in dressing rooms and at bars to now where he holds them dear and soft when time comes.