CricketBen Stokes opens up about his injury-riddled IPL 2023 season
Chennai Super Kings were a strong team this year too as they climbed their way to the IPL 2023 final and defeated the defending champions Gujarat Titans. The thrilling final was stretched to two days due to constant rain in Ahmedabad. In the first half of the league stage CSK wasn’t looking much assertive because of the injuries that many of their star players were picking up.
Stokes played only two matches this IPL season
Most notable among them was Ben Stokes, All-rounder and Test captain of England. Stokes was bought by Chennai Super Kings for 16 crores, He came to India with a lot of hype but also with injury woes.
With England starting a big summer which includes The Ashes, Stokes has had to take a backseat this season scoring 15 runs in just two games and going wicketless in an over. While talking to the media he looked on the lighter side of things and compared his role in the IPL final to that of former England football captain John Terry as his club Chelsea won the Champions League in 2013.
Stokes in Press conference
After CSK won the action-packed IPL final in Ahmedabad against GT, a few days after that at a press conference at Lord’s the all-rounder joked and said “I played a bit of a John Terry role winning the IPL. Terry lifted the Champions League trophy in 2012 wearing his full Chelsea kit despite missing the final game against Bayern Munich due to suspension.
He further said “ it would have been better if I played more. Then I look at that as an opportunity to train as opposed to playing and then top yourself up along the tournaments. Once you enter the tournaments it’s all about games, travel, all that sort of thing.
So, I was really able to turn a frustrating position into a positive one because I was able to focus on being able to train properly , whether it was technical stuff with the bat or fitness stuff in the gym and being able to concentrate on something else.
“It was a really great way to get through that long period of time to focus on other things , rather than being frustrated that I wasn’t playing. So looking at it, you could say that It’s disappointing to play two games but I was able to do something else then. Sitting here today, I’m actually thinking it could be a blessing in disguise-there’s a silver lining in every cloud”-He added
