I’m Not Going To Lie...: Ben Stokes Opens Up On His Availability For MS Dhoni's CSK In IPL 2023

Despite being sidelined due to a knee injury that limited his participation in the second Test against New Zealand and raised concerns about his fitness for the Ashes this summer, England cricket captain Ben Stokes has stated that he will honor his £1.6m Indian Premier League (IPL) contract. In the Wellington Test, Stokes was only able to bowl two out of the 216 overs bowled by England as they lost by one run and drew the series, becoming only the fourth team ever to be defeated after asking their opponents to follow on.

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Meet Up of CSK bloods Devon Conway and Ben Stokes __

We are cooking! pic.twitter.com/5qSp7NmtGG

— Y. (@CSKYash_) February 28, 2023

“I’m not going to lie, it has been very frustrating knowing something has been holding me back from performing as I’d like to, especially as fourth seamer,” he said of the injury. “I’m not a surgeon but I knew when I’d bowled a bit it didn’t feel good. I’ve got a four-month period now to get it even better before the Ashes and I’ll be doing everything I can. I’ve been in different situations where I’ve been good, I’ve gone through situations where it’s not been good, but if anything I’ll probably take my commitment to getting it better even more now."

The loss prevented England from achieving seven successive Test victories for the first time since 2004 and robbed them of momentum heading into the Ashes. They have only one red-ball match against Ireland before Australia's visit in June.

“I’ve been working hard with our physio and medics but once the games came around it was hard to get everything done around my knee. I’m going to the IPL, don’t worry. I’ve had conversations with Flem [Chennai coach Stephen Fleming] and he’s fully aware of the situation with my body at the moment.”

Stokes expressed his disappointment at not being able to bowl more in New Zealand but stated that he knows how to manage his body and is still planning to play for Chennai Super Kings in the lucrative T20 tournament in India later this month.

“That is what you play Test cricket for, to be in those moments. To be a part of that was amazing,” he said. “It was crazy. If you can’t look back at that Test match, even in our dressing room on the losing side, and just be quite thankful that you’ve been involved in a game like that, when can you? Test matches like that don’t happen that often, they don’t come around that often. You have to lose games to really appreciate how good it is to actually win. And, if you are going to lose games, you’d like to be involved in a game like that instead of losing by 200 runs or whatever. “It might sound daft because you’ve gone so close, but I just think everyone is appreciating this week for what it is.”

On the final day of the match, after losing four early wickets while chasing a target of 258 runs to win, a 121-run partnership between Joe Root and Stokes gave England the upper hand, only for 11th man James Anderson to be caught when victory was within their grasp. Despite narrowly missing out on a historic win, Stokes remained philosophical and credited head coach Brendon McCullum for helping turn the team into a fearless and successful unit since taking over as captain last year.