Ben Stokes could play only two matches for CSK in IPL 2023 (Sportzpix)
Ben Stokes could make just two appearances for CSK in IPL 2023 and Aakash Chopra believed he didn’t fit into the five-time IPL champions’ combination
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels that signing Ben Stokes could be a very costly mistake for Chennai Super Kings after England’s injury-hit campaign against CSK in IPL 2023. The Yellow Army would go on to win the trophy even with Stokes being left on the bench. He has been plagued by injuries for most of the games, but even when he regains full fitness, the English all-rounder could prove to be a mismatch.
Stokes was returning to full fitness from a knee injury after being bought by the five-time IPL champions for Rs 16.25 crore. He would play just two matches at the start of the season, before his injury problems sidelined him again and he did not get a chance to play again.
Chopra felt that even when the Englishman was back to his full fitness, CSK’s team combination was such that they had no room for a fit Stokes.
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“You bought Ben Stokes for 16-crores; He was very expensive, but what happened after that – you got him to bat at No.3 and then he got injured. When he had to come back after injury, you realized he doesn’t fit into your scheme of things,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Pointing to the fact that Devon Conway, Mahesh Thekshana and Moeen Ali were always likely to start, which hampered Stokes’ chances.
“Devon Conway will bat at the top, Moeen Ali in the middle because he is an all-rounder, and then you have to pick Mahesh Teekshana because you don’t have a spinner other than Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) as Moeen Ali doesn’t have. Don’t bowl too much.”
And Stokes was not the only player whose injury forced MS Dhoni to get creative as he was forced to experiment with players like Dwayne Pretorius and Sisanda Magala due to Deepak Chahar’s hamstring problem.
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You had a problem with death bowling from the beginning. It is not that if Deepak Chahar was not unfit then Deepak Chahar could have been your death bowler along with Tushar Deshpande. It won’t work with both of them. So you had to play one of Mathisha Pathirana or Dwayne Pretorius and Sisanda Magala,” the cricketer-turned-commentator.
In the end though, Dhoni and CSK found a way to beat Gujarat Titans by 5 wickets via the DLS method and went on to win five IPL titles alongside Mumbai Indians.