Ben Stokes will be soon flying back to England for his national duty. The all-rounder had a disappointing season with the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) and had an ordinary outing Stokes ahead of the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), which RR lost, took to Instagram and posted a heartfelt message. In the post, Stokes was disappointed by the fact that he couldn’t dish out match-winning performances for the franchise. The star all-rounder, however, did mention that he gave everything.

"had a great time with @rajasthanroyals what a bunch of amazing people this franchise has, individually very disappointing but gave everything I had to give just wasn't meant to be, hope we can get across the line tonight and make it through to the playoffs, would love to see these boys lifting the trophy at the end of the season as all the hard work put in by everyone deserves it #hallabol #RR,” read Stokes’ post.

 

Stokes along with Royals opener Jos Buttler will miss team’s final round-robin match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 19 as the duo has been directed by England Cricket Board (ECB) to report by May 17 ahead of the first Test against Pakistan, which starts on May 24.

Stokes, who was the costliest pick at the IPL 2018 auction at INR 12.5 Crore, in 13 matches for Royals managed to score just 196 runs at an average of 16.33 with 45 as his highest score. The all-rounder picked eight wickets compared to last year’s tally of 12.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 16, 2018 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).