IPL 2020 | It took me a while to understand that outside noise doesn't matter, insists Ben Stokes

Going into the half-time, Mumbai Indians looked in complete control of the match as they were propelled to the score of 195 with a 21-ball-60 from their all-rounder Hardik Pandya. However, in the second innings, things hardly went in favour of Mumbai as they looked helpless against the hitting carnage displayed by Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes. Having scored 107* off 60 balls, Stokes scored his first century for the franchise since he joined them in 2018, finally performing according to the standards set by him. Samson too completed his half-century, scoring a 31-ball-54 to power Rajasthan to an 8-wicket win with 10 balls to spare. 

Stokes, in a conversation with Samson post-match, insisted that he does not worry about the critics and is proud to have the backing of the management despite not coming good in the previous two seasons.  

"Outside noise can affect people in different ways, when I was younger it affected me, it took me a while to understand that outside doesn't matter to me anymore, it is within the team or people who have an influence on you, on your career. I have got backing from everyone at the franchise, I know I haven't delivered to the expectations of that but having that backing from the people that matter in the franchise is really the thing that I sort of pride everything on," Stokes told Samson in a video uploaded on IPLT20.com.

He praised Junior Pandya for his brilliant innings and pointed out that the momentum was in Mumbai’s favour after Pandya’s innings, hence, he was happy to get the win. 

“To beat a team like Mumbai by 8 wickets is fantastic especially considering the momentum that Mumbai probably carried in with the innings that Hardik played. Some special striking. So, yeah great to get a win,” he added.