Is Ben Stokes retiring from ODIs after ICC World Cup 2023 ends?
He recently came out of retirement in August just before the mega event
England's all-rounder Ben Stokes has been suffering from a chronic knee injury for a while but despite that, he has no idea whether he will continue playing ODIs or not once the ICC World Cup 2023 ends.
Stokes announced his retirement from one-day cricket in 2022 citing workload as an issue as he wanted to focus entirely on Test cricket but he decided to come out of retirement in August 2023 to participate in England's World Cup title defence.
Even though Stokes's inclusion wasn't proven vital because England had a World Cup to forget as Jos Buttler's men only managed to win two out of eight games so far with their only wins coming against Bangladesh and the Netherlands.
When asked if he would continue playing one-day cricket after the mega event, he replied: "I have no idea."
“I’m sure there will be a conversation but I don’t know when that will be. I have used the time between games here to give myself a better opportunity after the surgery," Stokes said.
“All the work in the gym doesn’t compare to what you go through out there. I’m looking forward to getting it sorted and not having to worry like I have these past 18 months. From a physical point of view I’m better off than when I first got out here, but physical fitness and cricket fitness are two different things.”
England play Pakistan in a must-win match to secure their qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy and Stokes denied all the equations of him leaving early as his side is out of the semi-final race saying: “Never leave early, never take the easy way out, never leave your team-mates hanging.”
Stokes talked about his side's campaign in India and admitted that there is no doubt that the performance was way below their expectations.
“We know we have performed nowhere near as well as we should have done at this World Cup. It was bittersweet to walk off with a victory because everything feels a lot better but we’re still very disappointed with how we’ve gone as a side," Stokes said.
“Unfortunately it’s not happened for us but we know how big this Pakistan game is. They are a quality team and we know the threat they pose to every team before a ball is bowled.
“There’s one massive game left for the future, with another tournament coming up. It’s not just a game to finish off a World Cup then go home, we’d love to leave with a winning feeling.”
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