England considering Ben Stokes for white ball captaincy
London (PTI): England's Test captain Ben Stokes is being considered as a potential replacement for Jos Buttler as the limited-overs skipper with ECB’s director of men’s cricket, Rob Key emphasising that it would be "stupid" not to explore the option, given his leadership qualities and the need to revive England’s struggling white-ball setup.
Stokes, 33, has not played ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, where he reversed his initial decision to retire from the format.
His Champions Trophy return was marred by a second hamstring tear in six months, sustained during the third Test against New Zealand.
"I think nothing's off the table really," Key was quoted saying in ESPNCricinfo. "You look at every single option and you think, right, what is the best thing to do? How is that going to impact on other things?
"Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I've ever seen. So it would be stupid not to look at him. It's just the knock-on effect of what that means.
"He's an unbelievably good tactician, which we've seen in Test cricket, but he's a leader of men. He's someone who gets the best out of people. He's someone that, when the pressure is really on, he's able to throw a blanket around the players and actually say, 'no, no, this is the way forward. Keep going with it'."
Stokes is currently in Abu Dhabi recovering with an England Lions training group and is expected to be fully fit for the summer with Durham.
Key, who was also in the UAE, believes Stokes has the ability to rejuvenate the ODI team, just as he did with the Test side.
"They're the qualities that you need in leadership. Ben's, as we know, an outstanding player, an outstanding leader. It's more about, what would that then mean to him? What would that then mean to his workload?
"We don't want to risk other things as well. But there's always a way in England, I think, where you start looking at, 'what if it goes wrong?' You've also got to think, 'what if it goes right?'. They're the decisions that I have to make."
Stokes’ rapport with Brendon McCullum, now overseeing England’s entire setup, may add weight to the idea.
Citing example of Team India model, Key believes Tests and ODIs share a strategic similarity that would work for Stokes.
"When you start looking at it, I believe that Test cricket and 50-over cricket are probably closer than T20s, which is the outlier now. So then that makes different things. We look at India and the way they play T20 cricket, and they've got all these young players coming through, but it's their Test players that are making the difference in 50-over cricket."
But it remains to be seen how injury-prone Stokes manages the demanding schedule.
England face India and Australia in crucial Test series this year, and would play ODI series against West Indies (May into June), South Africa, Ireland (both in September) and New Zealand (ahead of the Ashes).
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SWR announces special trains for passengers stranded by large-scale IndiGo cancellations
Bengaluru (PTI): The South Western Railway on Saturday announced a series of special trains, in coordination with Central, South Eastern and Southern Railways, to clear stranded passengers following large-scale IndiGo flight cancellations across the country.
The special services will operate between December 6 and 10 on high-demand routes, including Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Pune, Yesvantpur–Hazrat Nizamuddin, Shalimar–Yelahanka and Ernakulam–Yelahanka, officials said.
According to an official statement, SWR will run Train No. 06255/06256 between Chennai Egmore and KSR Bengaluru, 06257/06258 between Bengaluru and MGR Chennai Central, 06259/06260 between Yesvantpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin, and 06263/06264 between Bengaluru and Pune.
ALSO READ: Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Central Railway will operate Train No. 01413/01414 between Pune and Bengaluru, while South Eastern Railway will run Train No. 08073/08074 between Shalimar and Yelahanka. Southern Railway will operate Train No. 06147/06148 between Ernakulam and Yelahanka, the statement said.
Railways has advised passengers to check updated timings on its official channels and arrive early at stations.
For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have been significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggage has been misplaced.
