Ian Chappell says Ben Stokes' attitude has instilled self-belief in young people
Former cricketer of team Australia Ian Chappell has praised England captain Ben Stokes for his captaincy in the first two Tests of the five-match series against India, saying that his aggressive approach and attitude have given the team success and plenty of self-belief to youngsters. Chappell said that the leadership of Stokes has made sure that the five-match series between both rivals is level at 1-1 and still wide open. Chappell said, "Ben Stokes' aggressive approach to captaincy may have failed to claim victory in a hard-fought second Test, but the five-match series against India is still wide open at 1-1. Much of England's success has been attributed to Bazball—the desire to squickly and tactically rattle the opposition—but this is a misnomer. What Stokes has really done is set out to achieve victory from ball one by playing aggressive cricket in all aspects of the game.”
He added, “Stokes has been extremely smart to adopt such an approach, and his aggressive tactics have brought England great success in the win column. It’s an approach that England was extremely slow to adopt, but Stokes has shown himself to be a strong-minded and smart leader.”
Chappell said, “Stokes’ attitude has helped the younger players believe in themselves, and this is showing in their bowling performances. The success of young players Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, and Shoaib Bashir is no fluke; it epitomizes the confidence instilled by Stokes’ approach.”