After a blistering start to their campaign beating Chennai Super Kings, more good news awaits Rajasthan Royals. Their ace all-rounder Ben Stokes, who has not landed in the UAE, is likely to join the squad in the first week of October.
Meanwhile, Stokes has been going through some family issues after his father suffered from brain cancer. The Rajasthan Royals all-rounder is currently in New Zealand to be with his parents in these testing times. He missed that limited-overs series against Pakistan and the following series against Australia.
Ben Stokes to join Rajasthan Royals camp
There were speculations that Ben Stokes might miss the entire IPL 2020 after head coach Andrew McDonald admitted that they haven’t heard from the cricketer. But a report in Gulf News has claimed that the English all-rounder will join the squad in the first week of October to play in IPL 2020.
He is likely to miss four games of the season and will be available from the fifth encounter. The ‘Big Four’ of the squad: skipper Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, and Ben Stokes can then be quite a handful for the opposition.
So far, Ben Stokes has played 34 matches scoring 635 runs with the highest score of 103. He also has 26 wickets to his name.
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Rajasthan off to a winning start
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson’s blistering knock followed by a tight bowling display gave Rajasthan Royals a winning start in the IPL 2020. Sanju Samson took off in the 5th over, taking on Sam Curran, but reserved his best against spin. Jadeja went for plenty and Piyush Chawla simply went the distance.
His knock of 74 runs off just 32 deliveries included nine towering sixes. Although he got out, Smith scored a fine fifty before Jofra Archer ran a rampage. The score proved to be enough for Chennai Super Kings who failed to chase down the target after the top-order batsmen failed to provide a good start.