Ashes 2023: "You Realised That He Doesn't Fit In Your Scheme Of Things" - Aakash Chopra On Chennai Super Kings Leaving Ben Stokes On Bench

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra stated that all-rounder Ben Stokes didn’t have a place in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) line-up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Aakash Chopra believes that Ben Stokes was not the first choice among the four overseas players in the starting XI.

Ben Stokes was included in the playing XI in the first two matches of the tournament. However, the English Test captain was sidelined for a few matches due to knee and toe injuries. Stokes didn’t get a chance to play in the reminder matches of the tournament despite recovering from the injury.

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He Was Extremely Expensive – Aakash Chopra

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said that CSK realized that Ben Stokes didn’t fit in their scheme of things.

“You bought Ben Stokes for 16-odd crores; he was extremely expensive, but what happened after that – you got him to bat at No. 3, and then he got injured. When he was supposed to come back after injury, you realized that he doesn’t fit in your scheme of things,” Aakash Chopra said.

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“Devon Conway will bat at the top, Moeen Ali in the middle because he is an all-rounder, and then you will have to pick Maheesh Theekshana because you don’t have a spinner other than Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) as Moeen Ali doesn’t bowl much,” he added.

Ben Stokes was bought by the CSK for a whopping Rs 16.25 at the IPL 2023 mini-auction. He scored 15 runs in two innings with a strike rate of 107.5 and conceded 18 runs in one over.

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The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that the MS Dhoni-led team already had enough pacers in their line-up.

“You had death-bowling problems right from the start. It’s not that if Deepak Chahar hadn’t become unfit, Deepak Chahar could have been your death bowler alongside Tushar Deshpande,” he added.

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“It wouldn’t have worked out with both of them. So you had to play Matheesha Pathirana or one of Dwaine Pretorius and Sisanda Magala,” he concluded.

In the second half of the tournament, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming revealed that Ben Stokes wasn’t ready to bowl in the matches. Fleming said that the team management considered Stokes as the batting cover instead of an all-rounder.

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