Englandand Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Ben Stokes will fly home on Friday fromIndia and will be out of action for 12 weeks after sustaining a finger injury.
CTscan and repeat X-ray conducted on Thursday showed that Stokes has fracturedhis left index finger. He will have a surgery in Leeds on Monday.
Theinjury occurred during RR's opening match against Punjab Kings on Monday whenhe completed a catch in the deep to see off West Indies batsman Chris Gayle.
Apartfrom missing the entire IPL season, Stokes is now also set to miss England'sTest series against New Zealand which starts on June 2. He had initiallyintended to stay with RR for the rest of the season to provide support.
Stokeswas already one of many England and New Zealand players who could have missedthe first Test of the series had their respective IPL teams reached knockoutstages of the tournament.