Ben Stokes Dedicates Century Against Mumbai Indians To His Ailing Father

Ben Stokes reminded many of his Headingley knock as he powered Rajasthan Royals to a convincing victory over Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2020 clash at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. By the virtue of the victory, Rajasthan Royals remain alive with an outside chance to qualify in the IPL 2020 playoffs while CSK are officially knocked out of the tournament.

Stokes remained unbeaten on 107 runs off 60 deliveries in pursuit of the target. His knock was laced with 14 boundaries and three hits over the fence. On reaching his century, he once again, gestured with his finger dedicating it to his ailing father. Stokes was well supported y Sanju Samson in the chase as he notched up 54 runs off 31 deliveries.

The story behind Ben Stokes’ gesture

Stokes has done the gesture quite a few times. It is as his father Ged, who was a rugby player, had to chop of his middle finger to continue pursuing his career. Stokes has left the Pakistan tour earlier this year to spent time with his family in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“I kept on believing in myself. When you play 14 games continuously, you’ll have to go through ups and downs. I worked a bit on my game plan. In bigger grounds, on different wickets, you need to take more time, play more cricketing shots, that was the difference I did today. It was amazing (batting with Stokes),” Samson said.

“We have spent a good time out in the middle in the last three games, this was the best time with him, really enjoyed it. I was not looking at how many runs do we want or what the run-rate was. I was just reacting to the ball, my game plan is very simple, I just watch the ball and hit it if it is there. If it’s not, I take singles and doubles,” he added.

Earlier after pting to bat, Mumbai Indians rode on cameo knocks from Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary and a 21-ball 60 runs blitz from Hardik Pandya to post a total of 195/5 in the stipulated 20 overs. Fast bowler Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal picked up two wickets each for Rajasthan Royals.