England Test captain Ben Stokes is set to return home after Chennai Super Kings’ final IPL 2023 league match. He wants to give himself enough time to prepare for next month’s Ashes. Stokes was bought by CSK for Rs 16.25 crore during the IPL auction in December 2022. He participated in just the first two matches for CSK. Stokes scored 7 and 8 and conceded 18 runs in his only over with the ball.

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IPL 2023: Ben Stokes it all set to return for the Ashes

As part of preparation, England are set to play a Test against Ireland at Lord’s on June 1. Stokes, who has a long-running knee issue, had expressed his desire to “give myself enough time to get back and play that game” and “fulfil my role as fourth seamer” during the Ashes.

Just when CSK have shown signs of some batting fragility and are moving into a phase where Stokes’ clutch characteristics would have been very useful, there are reports that he is flying back after the league stage to prepare for England’s upcoming one-off Test against Ireland. It is, of course, tough to make sense of the entire situation because there have been so many moving parts.

On April 22, CSK chief coach Stephen Fleming said that Stokes has “suffered an injury setback and will be out for a week”. The star all-rounder was available for selection again last week but didn’t feature in the playing XI for CSK.

CSK are sitting at the second spot in the IPL standings. Fleming said after their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday that bowling remains “a bit of a challenge” at the moment for Stokes and he is there as “batting cover”. Chennai have just one league stage match left, where they will face Delhi Capitals on Saturday. They are not expected to bring changes in their playing XI.