Stokes confident England will do well in ODIs

TIL Desk Sports/ England all-rounder Ben Stokes is confident that their 0-4 drubbing in the five-Test series will have no bearing on the limited overs series commencing here with the first ODI on January 15. “It is a completely different format, different teams. We can’t really look back on the Test series and take it into this one-day series with us. The Test series did not go well for us and we have a chance to come out here and perform well, like we know,” said Stokes here on Friday ahead of the opening game of the best-of-three 50-over contest.

“We have done in the last two years against really good teams. We know it is going to be tough. We are full of excitement, full of confidence. We are looking forward to it,” he added. Virat Kohli, the scourge of England right through the Test series as captain and key batsman, has now taken over the reins of the limited over team too with the stepping down of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but Stokes feels his team will not focus on the rival team, but on themselves.

“We will try our best to get him out. He has been in major form, has been over the last year and a half. We try to not concentrate on the other team too much. We concentrate on what we do. “The focus is always based on our performance and if someone does well, fair enough, than overload ourselves on too much information about him. We solely concentrate on how we go about winning.” Asked whether Dhoni, without the burden of leading the side, would be more dangerous, Stokes said, “I don’t know have to wait and see. From watching him, don’t think captaincy affected him much. A pretty calm and cool character.”