Take It Sportingly! Why is Ben Stokes Virat Kohli's favourite player?

Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes

Hello and Welcome to Take It Sportingly! Your weekly dose of all the sporting highlights from India and around the world. So sit back, relax and fasten your seatbelts, as we bring you news which is more lethal than Bumrah's yorkers, cheekier than Dharmasena's umpiring and cleverer than Ashwin's 'mankads'.

1- Ben Stokes is the cool cat in the sporting world at the moment, his captain says every English kid should aspire to be like him, his teammates hail him and he is even Virat Kohli's favorite name. No, no, no we are not talking about when Virat Kohli says Aye Bhen Stokes! in anger. we are referring to Virat Kohli's appreciation of Ben Stokes' all-round performance in the final. That man took wickets, saved boundaries, scored fifties and even diverted the ball ‘accidentally' to the boundary to win England its first-ever Cricket World Cup.

Feel bad for Kane Williamson though... that guy is so nice, that he even went for a beer with Eoin Morgan after the match.... the same way all parents ask their children to become like Sharmaji ka beta in India, the same way maybe in New Zealand, parents now want their kids to be like Williamson ka beta? Anyways how many of you know that Aye Bhen Stokes is awarded for New Zealander of the year award after the final? Yes that's right Ben Stokes was born in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to England at the age of 12. Bhai World Cup shayad England ko mila ho lekin Man of the Match New Zealand hi leke gayi.

2 - In the last 2 weeks, right after India's exit from the World Cup, a lot of people were speculating MS Dhoni's retirement. Some even made emotional videos and dedicated songs to Dhoni. Well, the man is not retiring just yet but had earlier made himself unavailable for India's tour of West Indies. But guess what he is doing? Not really, he has not shaved his head and gone to the mountains, Colonel Lieutenant MS Dhoni has put on his army uniform and headed straight to serve in the parachute regiment of the Indian Army. Salute sir!

Moving on to the team vs West Indies, Rishabh Pant will be the first choice wicket keeper for India in all three formats. Also some well-deserved newbies in the squad, including Shreyas Iyer, Navdeep Saini, Rahul Chahar and Deepak Chahar. Welcome to the drill boys!

3 - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Imran Tahir running off after taking a wicket? No! It's Hima Das. This girl who nobody knew till a few months back is the biggest track and field hope that India has ever had. The girl has won 5 gold medals in track and field events in July itself which makes her India's brightest star going into the Tokyo Olympics. Bhai baarish se zyada toh Hima ke Gold aa rahe hai yeh mahine.

Hima Das specializes in the 400-metre and 200-metre dash and is definitely a medal contender for India in next year's Olympics. Come on girl! Make India proud, we are with you.

That's all folks we will be back here again next week to bring you the latest from the Galaxy of sports. But before going we leave you with the innocent-faced Yuzvendra Chahal who transforms into Italian Mafia by using the FaceApp. Enjoy!Yuzvendra Chahal

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