IPL: ‘Spy’ on Rising Pune Supergiants captain Smith’s flaws, Root to Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes, who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping Rs 14.50 crore during last month’s auction, will be making his Indian Premier League debut this year. Joe Root feels the cash-rich league will help English cricketers to improve their game.

England’s Test cricket team skipper Joe Root on Thursday asked all-rounder Ben Stokes, who will play under the captaincy of Steve Smith in the Indian Premier League franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, to find the weakness of his new skipper so that they can beat Australia in the Ashes series later in the year.

England's Joe Root (R) and Ben Stokes run between the wickets during the second T20 international in Nagpur in January this year. Ben Stokes and Steve Smith will be teammates at IPL team Rising Pune Supergiants (REUTERS)

“Smith has become one of the best players in the world. In fact, he is ranked as the best player in the world and is just racking up the runs for fun,” Joe Root was quoted as saying by Dailystar.co.uk.

England's Chris Woakes (R), Jos Buttler (2R), Ben Stokes (2L) and Joe Root celebrate the dismissal of India's K.L. Rahul during the second One Day International in Cuttack on January 19, 2017.

“So the one thing Stokesy can do for us is make sure he finds a little weakness in Steve Smith’s armoury for us when we go down to Australia, if he can,” he added.

Ashes in November

Australia will host England in the Ashes series starting from November 23.

Joe Root also said that this cash-rich IPL will help English cricketers to improve their game.

“It is great to see a number of English guys getting that exposure to fantastic ex-players and coaches as well as some of the best players in the world,” Root said.

“Hopefully, they come back better for it and I’m sure they’ll gain confidence from being out there and playing in front of some big crowds,” he added.