'Ab Ayaga Mazza' - Fans react as Ben Stokes set to come out of ODI retirement and play 2023 World Cup for England

In what could be big news for England, Ben Stokes is set to come out of ODI retirement and defend England's World Cup title in India. Earlier reports indicated that Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott were keen on having Ben Stokes back in the ODI mix. Now if Buttler asks Stokes to return it is likely he will do so.

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Stokes is also willing to miss the full or part of the 2024 IPL season as he would use that window to get his knee surgery done. Then he will go through proper rehab and recovery so that he would be as fit as a fiddle again. The England all-rounder was picked up by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a whopping sum of 16.25 crore.

Stokes could miss the next IPL season to fully recover from knee trouble - The Telegraph

"While concern lingers over Stokes's knee which might require operation at some stage, Telegraph Sport understands that he would be prepared to miss next season's IPL if he needed a gap in his schedule to help him recover." as quoted by the Telegraph. In IPL 2023 Stokes starred in only two games and scored 15 runs with the highest score of 8. He bowled very few overs and could not pick up wickets for the franchise.

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The report further went on to state that if need be then Stokes could just play for England as a specialist batter and his bowling could take a back seat. It would not affect the overall composition of the England side as they have good enough bowling options and cover. Notably, Stokes picked up just 7 wickets in the 2019 World Cup.

Stokes last played an ODI against South Africa at home before calling it quits from the 50-Over format. Stokes has featured in 105 ODI games and scored 2924 runs at an average of 39.38 with three centuries. He has also scalped 74 wickets in ODIs. In the 2019 World Cup, he scored 465 runs in 11 games for the Three Lions with the highest score of 89.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:

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Good For them. But he has terrible experience in India as a World Cup event

— Vikram Verma (@vikramsnatak) August 14, 2023

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 all likely to defend there WC title....
One of the huge favourites

— Saiprasad V Dalvi (@saiprasad_dalvi) August 14, 2023

Its great news. I really love him.

— Md Rasel (@mdrasel_info) August 14, 2023

Anything for the country...Nation First👈

— Rohan Mahajan (@mahajanrohan187) August 14, 2023

Retirement ko majaak bana hee Diya hai to Mahi bhai aaajo aap bhi 🥺🥺🥺

— Starking.In (@Starking_in) August 14, 2023

Indian team now :Ben C*od

— Vikas (@Vik4660) August 14, 2023

And if he fails... That will be worse than decision of his career

— Firoz Mansoori (@FerozMansoori) August 15, 2023

Natak karte hain yeh saab,

— burpho (@SatishSigroha) August 14, 2023

Ben Stokes coming out of retirement for @cricketworldcup should not be required by England especially for India . Scheduling surgery has brought about this opportunity with the likelihood that he has now played his last @IPL cricket #IPL2023 #EnglandCricket @ChennaiIPL

— John Wright (@johnwright15) August 15, 2023

Ben stokes is must be in 11 of world cup

— Waleed Qayyum (@WaleedQayyum11) August 15, 2023