IPL 2017: Ben Stokes was amazing under pressure, says Pune skipper Steve Smith

Ben Stokes, Steven Smith

Rising Pune Supergiant's Ben Stokes celebrates his ton against Gujarat Lions in Pune on Monday. Pic/AFP

Two man-of-the-match awards in seven Indian Premier League (IPL) games can be considered a good performance, unless, you are Ben Stokes! Not that he was expected to win more awards than that, but because both the awards came due to his bowling, there was a question mark on his purchase.

The world's top all-rounder, bought by Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) for Rs 14.5 crore, had scored just 127 runs from seven innings and the murmurs of "is it worth the money" had already started doing the rounds. Last night, RPS were 10-3 in the second over chasing Gujarat Lions' 162 when Stokes came in to bat.

Steven Smith

RPS under pressure
The pressure grew further when RPS' most consistent batsman - Rahul Tripathi was run out leaving them stranded at 42-4.

"At 10-3, we felt we had a good chance," Lions' pacer Pradeep Sangwan said. But that's when the 'Ben Stokes Show' began.

"It was an amazing innings under pressure, coming in at three for nothing in a chase of 162," RPS skipper Steven Smith said of Stokes' match-winning hundred. Stokes' unbeaten 103 off 63 balls was his first century in T20 cricket.

After the fourth wicket Stokes and MS Dhoni started batting cautiously. They played many dot balls and there was a time when they were finding it difficult to rotate the strike even. There came a stage, when the duo managed just 10 off 19 balls. In came Ravindra Jadeja to bowl the 10th over of the innings and Stokes smashed him for two back-to-back sixes, and the shackles were broken.

Stokes' superb planning
"He planned his innings beautifully, took the game on at the right time," Smith pointed out. "He hit a lot of clean balls, chose the right balls to hit and timed it beautifully. A tremendous knock," Smith said.

Smith revealed he had urged the RPS owners to go for Stokes at the auction come what may, "We were very excited to get him (Stokes). I had said before the auction to the guys (owners) just do what you have to and get him."