Babar Azam's emotional Instagram story to Ben Stokes

The former Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, has posted an emotional Instagram story on the retirement of Ben Stokes, as he felt it an honour to share the field with one of the best all-rounders of the game. He also wished the New Zealand-born all-rounder the best for the next chapter of his career.

On the fourth day of the third Test between England and New Zealand at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, Ben Stokes announced his retirement from all three formats of the game. He decided to open the batting in his final innings of the red-ball career and entertained the crowd with an aggressive knock.

Babar Azam's full Instagram story message for Ben Stokes — Read what he wrote

Babar put a special Instagram story for Stokes. He called the all-rounder a very fearless competitor and inspirational leader of the game, who turned the Test record of the England side when they went into the slump under the leadership of Joe Root.

But captain Stokes and their head coach, Brendon McCullum, brought the fearless approach to their game plan to gain success for a large part of their tenure. Babar mentioned how Stokes had always delivered on the biggest stage of the game.

“A fearless competitor and an inspirational leader who delivered on the biggest stage, again and again. It was an honour to share the field with you. All the very best, Ben, for the next chapter.” Babar wrote on his Instagram story.

Ben Stokes retires from International cricket — A look back at his career-defining moments

Stokes finished his career with 7273 runs in 220 innings of the longest format at an average of 34.46 and a strike rate of nearly 59, having celebrated 14 centuries and 37 half-centuries at the best score of 258 runs against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. Besides that, he also picked up 250 wickets, becoming only the second player after Jacques Kallis to have the combination of 7000+ runs and 250+ wickets.

The 35-year-old, including winning the ODI World Cup 2019 at home, drilled 3463 runs in 99 innings of the 50-over format at an average of 41.22 and a strike rate of 95.68, thanks to his five centuries and 24 half-centuries at the best score of 82.

In the shortest format, he nailed 585 runs at a strike rate of 128 and picked up 26 wickets in 36 innings at an economy rate of 8.39. From the devastating 2016 T20 World Cup, where he gave away 24 runs with four sixes from Carlos Brathwaite, to winning the T20 WC in 2022 against Babar’s Pakistan, Stokes came a long way.

Under him, England earned seven series wins out of 15, including four drawn series. The only series they lost, other than against Australia and India, came in 2024 when they went 2-1 down against Pakistan.