All eyes are on England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes as the World Test Championship (WTC) final approaches. His fitness levels and suitability to return to competitive cricket have been widely debated.
Stokes, who missed a section of the IPL 2023 season with CSK due to injury, broke his silence on the injury-plagued season and likened his performance in the IPL final to that of former England football captain John Terry.
“I played a little bit of a John Terry role in winning the IPL,” he quipped to reporters at Lord’s.
“I think I would have much rather been playing,” Stokes remarked.
Stokes was plagued by lingering problems when playing twice for Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings this year, bowling just one over.
“I then saw that as an opportunity to train rather than playing and then topping up as the tournament progressed.” Once you’re in the tournament, it’s all about playing, travelling, and so forth. So, I was able to transform a disappointing scenario into a good one by focusing on properly training, whether it was technical things with the bat or physical stuff, anything in the gym, and being able to focus on something else.
“And it was a really good way to get through that long period of having something else to focus on instead of being disappointed that I wasn’t playing.” So, although merely playing two games may seem disappointing in retrospect, I was able to accomplish something else. “As I sit here today, I’m thinking it could have been a blessing in disguise – every cloud has a silver lining,” Stokes said.
