• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Played A Bit Of A John Terry Role Stokes Draws Hilarious Parallel To Chelsea Legend After Csks Ipl Win

‘Played a bit of a John Terry role’ - Stokes Draws Hilarious Parallel to Chelsea Legend after CSK's IPL Win

image-lie3kuizStokes has compared himself to John Terry [Twitter]

Chennai Super Kings recently clinched their fifth IPL title by defeating the Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the final of the Indian Premier League 2023. However, there was a period during the season when they were considered underdogs due to the injuries sustained by their key players at the beginning of the cash-rich league. 

One of the major letdowns for the Chennai Super Kings was their star all-rounder, Ben Stokes, who entered IPL 2023 amidst great anticipation but failed to live up to expectations due to persistent injury troubles. 

The English all-rounder was only able to play two matches, scoring a meagre 15 runs and remaining wicketless. Here it is worth mentioning that Stokes, with the Ashes series on the horizon, prioritised his fitness and chose not to participate in the entire tournament.

On being asked about his IPL 2023 experience with CSK, Stokes humorously drew a parallel between his role in the IPL final, where he wasn’t present and of John Terry, as his club Chelsea won the 2013 Champions League.

Notably, Terry famously wore his complete Chelsea kit while lifting the Champions League trophy in 2012, even though he couldn't play in the final against Bayern Munich due to suspension just like Stokes became the member of CSK IPL 2023 winning without any significant contribution.

Here’s what Ben Stokes said during press-conference at Lord's a couple of days after Chennai Super Kings won a thrilling final in Ahmedabad: 

"I played a little bit of a John Terry role winning the IPL.”

Commenting on his limited participation in the IPL 2023 with the Chennai Super Kings, Ben Stokes referred to it as a blessing in disguise as it allowed him to dedicate his valuable time to training and gearing up for the upcoming and much-anticipated Ashes challenge. 

“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.”

It’s not doom and gloom: Ben Stokes on his bowling 

Furthermore, in regard to limiting his bowling in Test cricket and avoiding further injuries, the star all-rounder voiced his opinion, conceding:

"Before I didn't have to worry about that, I could just bowl and bowl and bowl and turn up pretty fresh. Now I'm probably not able to do that, so in between games is probably the most important bit of managing anything correctly.”

Ben Stokes has been declared fit for the ongoing one-off Test against Ireland and the highly anticipated Ashes series, set to commence on June 16. It is noteworthy that the dynamic captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum has been exceptionally fruitful ever since taking on their roles last year.