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“He’s not there yet” - Stephen Fleming shares update on when Ben Stokes could start bowling

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said that all-rounder Ben Stokes is making good progress from his knee injury. He, however, added that apart from nursing his injury, the England international also needs some time to get back his bowling rhythm.

Stokes, 31, played as a specialist batter in CSK’s IPL 2023 opener against defending champions Gujarat Titans on Friday (March 31). Batting coach Michael Hussey admitted ahead of the tournament that Stokes would begin IPL 2023 as a batter, adding that his knee injury would be monitored as the T20 league progressed.

In a post-match conference following Chennai’s five-wicket loss to Gujarat, Fleming shared an update on Stokes’ injury management:

“He’s progressing well. He had a fair time off between the last Test match and getting here. And he had some medical work done on the knee. We want to do the right thing by making sure that he’s a 100 percent ready to go. He’s not there yet, and that includes bowling form. We are working closely with him, but he’s making really good progress.
“Really happy with what he’s done so far. I think he feels pretty positive about the progress he’s made. That’s another addition to the side - when he starts bowling. We’ve got some good players to come in, and we’ve introduced some players today. So not all bad.”

Stokes could not contribute much with the bat on Friday. He was dismissed for seven off six balls, caught behind off Rashid Khan.


“We thought we were a little bit short” - Fleming reflects on CSK’s batting effort

Sent into bat after losing the toss, CSK put up 178-7 on the board. Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad top-scored with 92 off 50, but the rest of the team could not make any significant contributions.

Asked about Chennai’s batting effort, Fleming admitted that they didn’t score enough runs:

“We thought we were a little bit short. Ruturaj played a great hand, but around him, we just didn’t capitalise on the couple of positions we got into. They bowled well from 12 to 16 overs, and we couldn’t get that final push that we needed. 180 is a good score, but we were in a position where we could have got 190-200. We were probably a little big match underdone.”

Chasing 179, Gujarat got home in 19.2 overs. Shubman Gill smashed 63 off 36 before Rashid Khan (10* off three) and Rahul Tewatia (15* off 14) added the finishing touches.

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