IPL 2023: Injured Ben Stokes jokes about his role in CSK's win; says played 'John Terry' like role

During a training session on April 8th, the Chennai Super Kings' allrounder, Ben Stokes, sustained a toe injury, preventing him from taking ant further part. Stokes expressed disappointment over missing the final of the Indian Premier League, which CSK ultimately emerged victorious in. In hindsight, he opted to focus on the positive aspects of the situation.

With the World Test Championship final approaching, the spotlight is on England's Skipper, Ben Stokes. The all-rounder got injured while playing the IPL and his fitness levels have become a topic of widespread discussion over the last few weeks. Stokes who has now almost returned to full fitness made a humorous comparison between his role in the IPL final and former England football captain John Terry. “I played a little bit of a John Terry role winning the IPL," he playfully said during his interaction with the media at Lord's Cricket Ground.

 “I think I would much rather have been playing,” Stokes said.

Stokes has been troubled by injuries throughout his career and the most recent one was his left knee injury which restricted him from bowling. The Chennai Super Kings all-rounder also suffered a toe injury in the training session ahead of the match against Mumbai Indians and couldn’t take any further part in the tournament. Stokes managed to bowl just one over in the two games that he played but looked uncomfortable in the follow-through.

“I’ve then seen that as an opportunity to train as opposed to playing and then topping yourself up as the tournament goes along. Once you get into the tournament it’s like play, travel, all that kind of stuff. So, I was actually able to turn a disappointing situation into a positive one because I was able to concentrate on properly being able to train, whether that be technical stuff with the bat or fitness stuff, stuff in the gym and being able to concentrate on something else.

The injury came as a blessing in disguide for Stokes, as it allowed him to forcus on some technical aspects of his game which he wanted to improve on and also give him time to return to full fitness ahead of the all important Ashes.

“And that was a really good way to get through that long period of having something else to focus on, as opposed to being disappointed I wasn’t playing. So looking back on it, you might say it’s disappointing to only play two games but I was able to then do something else. Sitting here today, I’m actually thinking it could have been a blessing in disguise – every cloud has a silver lining,” said Stokes.