“Difficult to be available for rescheduled IPL” says Ben Stokes as England players face hectic schedule
Follow Us
Ben Stokes
The England all-rounder, Ben Stokes has expressed that he is not sure of being available for the rescheduled IPL 2021 which has been currently postponed as the second wave of COIVD-19 surged in India.
With numerous players of different franchises testing positive for the novel coronavirus, the BCCI was forced to postpone the league with just 29 played out of the total 56 matches, indefinitely on May 4, 2021. Meanwhile Stokes was out of the tournament in the initial stages of the tournament as the Rajasthan Royals all-rounder injured himself severely in an attempt to complete the catch of Chris Gayle while fielding in the match against Punjab Kings.
“We don’t know if or when the tournament will be rearranged, but as the ECB have said it could be difficult for the England boys to have a free gap,” read the column from ‘Daily Mirror’ written by Stokes. “After this year though, I do look forward to playing a full part again at some point in the future,” he added.
The England Cricket board and director Ashley Giles have informed that the players would have no time for playing the rescheduled IPL matches as they are having congested schedules which involves the T20 world cup, where the part of the 29 year old cricketer is crucial for Team England.
Ben Stokes on his injury
Ben Stokes spoke about his injury and wrote, “I can’t put a date on when I’ll be back playing again, but as long as things progress as well as they have then I should hope it will be well before the three months that was first feared and more like seven, eight, or nine weeks.“
Ben Stokes had been in remarkable form prior to the IPL 2021, in the one day series where he played a destructive knock of 99 from 52 balls which helped the Englishmen chase down a mammoth target of 337 within a span of mere 44 overs. He was expected to continue his form for the Royals in IPL but unfortunately he was not available after the initial match injury, and it heavily impacted the franchise as none of the alternative opener could fill in his spot efficiently leading to poor performance of the team finishing 5th in the table.
“You can never know for sure how long these things will take because it is not just about the technical side of healing and getting the bone strong, there is the big issue of having confidence in it to play professional sport. It was tough to say goodbye to the guys at the Rajasthan Royals earlier than I wanted, but the subsequent suspension of the tournament means that everyone is now back early with their families as India tries to get through such a difficult time.”
With Ben Stokes having less probability to return to the Royals camp for the remainder of IPL2021, the franchise is in desperate need of an all rounder and a opener to get them to the next-league stages.
Stay Updated!
FS Desk
(8023 Articles Published)