In what is a massive blow to the Rajasthan Royals, England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been ruled out of IPL 2021, the franchise confirmed on Tuesday evening.
“Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Ben Stokes injured a finger on his left hand while fielding during the team's match against Punjab Kings on 12 April in Mumbai. Subsequent investigations revealed that he sustained a broken finger, which will unfortunately rule him out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League 2021 season,” the statement on Tuesday read.
Stokes sustained the injury during Rajasthan Royals’ opening match with Punjab Kings on Monday when taking a catch to dismiss Chris Gayle.
After dropping a chance earlier in the match, Stokes ran in from long on and dived forward to complete the dismissal of Gayle and immediately felt discomfort in his left hand, grimacing as he got up to celebrate with his teammates.
He continued on through the match but did not bowl and was dismissed for a three-ball duck as the Royals fell five runs short of their target of 222.
The franchise is reviewing potential replacements.
The Independent reported that Stokes will remain out in India for a week and that the ECB are in talks with Royals around managing the injury.
He will have an X-Ray on Thursday to determine how much damage has been done before the ECB take over planning of the recovery.
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