England and Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Ben Stokes will be out of action for up to 12 weeks as his fractured left index finger will require surgery that will take place in Leeds on Monday.
Stokes had already been ruled out of the Indian Premier League season.
A repeat X-ray and CT scan revealed that the 29-year-old has a fracture in his left index finger, an injury that he picked up during the opening match for his franchise in the ongoing IPL. Stokes, who is currently in India with his franchise Rajasthan Royals, will fly home on Saturday.
“Ben Stokes will be out for up to 12 weeks. He will have surgery in Leeds on Monday,” read a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board on Friday.
The injury occurred while Stokes was fielding during Royals’ opening match against Punjab Kings on Monday in Mumbai when he completed a catch in the deep to see off Punjab Kings batsman Chris Gayle. He seemed to have stubbed his finger underneath the ball while taking a catch at long on. After treatment in the dugout, he returned to field. The Englishman, opening the batting, was dismissed for a duck in the first over of the run-chase.
While Stokes is ruled out of the entire tournament, it remains to be seen if another key Royals player, Jofra Archer, can recover in time from a hand injury to take part in the later stages of the IPL.
Besides the IPL, Stokes will also miss England’s two-match Test series against New Zealand in June and a three-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka (June 23-26) followed by an ODI engagement against the same team (June 30-July 4), reported PTI.
England then have a three-match ODI series lined up against Pakistan from July 8 to 13.
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