England Test captain Ben Stokes will be playing as a specialist batter for Chennai Super Kings in the early part of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL), batting coach Michael Hussey has said. Stokes has been suffering from a knee injury which had earlier put doubts over whether he will be able to take part in the league this season at all. Hussey said that the franchise is working closely with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
"My understanding is he's ready to go as a batsman from the start. The bowling might be wait and see. I know he had his first very light bowl yesterday (Sunday) since he had his injections in his knee," said Hussey on Tuesday.
"The physios from Chennai and ECB are working pretty closely together. My understanding is he won't be bowling much at all in the first few games of the tournament... it might be a few weeks. I'm not 100% sure, (but we will) hopefully get him bowling at some stage in the tournament," Hussey added.
CSK fans have been visibly excited about the prospect of Stokes playing in their famous yellow colours. The franchise has tweeted videos of Stokes drawing big cheers from the crowd when he hit a few sixes in practice at the Chepauk Stadium. Hussey said that Stokes would love to be playing at the stadium, that has not hosted CSK since 2019.
"The ground is amazing: new stands up, full capacity. The first home game, the atmosphere is going to be out of this world. I can't wait -- and I'm sure Stokesy is going to absolutely love it. That's the thing with those big players, they generally like a big stage and perform their best on it. Once he gets out there in Chepauk Stadium in front of an unbelievably loud crowd, I hope it's going to bring out the best in him," Hussey said.
{{/usCountry}}"The ground is amazing: new stands up, full capacity. The first home game, the atmosphere is going to be out of this world. I can't wait -- and I'm sure Stokesy is going to absolutely love it. That's the thing with those big players, they generally like a big stage and perform their best on it. Once he gets out there in Chepauk Stadium in front of an unbelievably loud crowd, I hope it's going to bring out the best in him," Hussey said.
{{/usCountry}}Hussey added that Stokes had been "hitting the ball really well" since arriving in India, predicting that he would be "huge" to the franchise's bid to reach the playoffs, "particularly if we can get him bowling... having those allrounders is really important."
Stokes had earlier hinted that he might not be available for the CSK for the business end of the tournament as England return to action on June 1 for the one-off Test against Ireland before the Ashes, that begins June 16. The IPL ends on May 28.