England all-rounder Ben Stokes is of the view that both Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are best in the business and they will look to “weave their magic” in the pursuit of the ultimate glory.
“They are both phenomenal players and have played quite a bit against both of them. You watch them play and they make the game look a lot more easier than others do. So, I am a massive fan of both the players. They have both got their own styles and they are both different in the way they play, but they are both very very effective. You obviously play against guys to win, but at the end of the day you got to look at it from an angle that I love cricket and I love watching both Virat and Steve go about doing their jobs so consistently,” Ben Stokes told IANS.
Stokes also said that he cannot wait for the showpiece event to get started on May 30 after demolishing Pakistan 4-0 in the just concluded five-match ODI series.
“I think we have earned the right to be favourites with the cricket that we have played in the last three or four years. Being world no.1 you will always come into the tournament as favourites. If India or Australia were the no.1 ranked team, they would come into the tournament as favourites. But we cannot take the no.1 tag into the tournament if we want to win it because as you saw during the Champions Trophy (2017) that we were playing great cricket and then we got onto a wicket against Pakistan which wasn’t suited to our style and suited them more. But we have learnt from that and we are more capable to adapt to situations now than we were back then. We are a much better team now because we are able to read situations better,” Stokes said.
England will open the quadrennial event when they face South Africa at The Oval in south London on May 30.
