Rajasthan Royals and their fans will finally breathe a sigh of relief as star all-rounder Ben Stokes is on his way to the United Arab Emirates to join the rest of the squad for IPL 2020.
Earlier on Saturday morning, Stokes posted photos of him with his family at the airport on Instagram. “Goodbye’s never get easier ❤️❤️,” the 29-year old wrote as the caption for his post.
If this wasn’t enough for the fans to understand, the Rajasthan Royals IG account and Jofra Archer also expressed their excitement in the comment section to make it more evident.
Hi guys, quick question. How long does it take from Christchurch to UAE? ✈️👀#HallaBol
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) October 3, 2020
The Rajasthan Royals social media team who have been pretty sharp in their game this season, dropped breadcrumbs for the fans to make Stokes’ entry grander.
A few hours later, they finally revealed the expected and much anticipated as they posted Stokes’ image wearing a mask on their twitter handle and wrote, “Stoked. 😄✈.”
Stoked. 😁✈️#HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily | @benstokes38 pic.twitter.com/pcAvyIcaaF
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) October 3, 2020
It was in August when Stokes was playing for England in a three-match test series against Pakistan at home when he left midway through the series for Christchurch, New Zealand due to family reasons. Stokes has since then spent time his time with his family in New Zealand.
With the IPL incoming fans had been curious about his availability for the RR team this season. The player and the franchise hadn’t been much vocal on the matter, until a few days ago England’s world cup-winning star took to Instagram to post a photo while training.
A picture of a red ball with a red bull can. A post that garnered much attention from the RR fans, given the caption and Red Bull’s association with the IPL franchise.
Not that the player has landed in the UAE, the RR fans will have a lot more to look up to. While the beginning of the season was top notch for the first-ever champions of the IPL, they found themselves in a tough situation against the Kolkata Knight Riders to whom they lost by 37 runs, with the middle order completely exposed and under question.
Source: Twitter (IPL)
The return of the English all-rounder who has been on song in the international cricket ever since the 2019 World Cup should add the much-needed fuel in the Royals squad.