BD NarayankarBengaluru, June 29 -- Cricket has always had elegant batsmen, tireless bowlers and dependable captains. Every generation produces them in respectable numbers. What it rarely produces is a man who could make even the predictable seem reckless. Ben Stokes belonged to that endangered species.
His retirement from international cricket, announced in the middle of a Test match rather than after it, was entirely in character. Ordinary men wait for the curtain to fall before taking a bow. Stokes preferred to leave while the orchestra was still playing.
Scorebooks will remember him kindly. They will note over 7,000 Test runs, more than 250 wickets, World Cup triumphs, Ashes heroics and a career stretching across nearly fifteen years. ...