After a special hundred in his team's eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday (October 25), a relieved Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder, Ben Stokes, said even though going through a disappointing period with the bat, he never let the criticism from outside get to his head. 

Coming into the tournament midway after a two-month break from the game to be with his ailing father in New Zealand, Stokes struggled for any sort of flow and didn't even hit a single six till he got going in Abu Dhabi against one of the competition's best attacks. 

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Stokes made a 60-ball 107 not out in the successful chase of the difficult 196-run target and later dedicated his impactful knock to father Gerard, the former Kiwi rugby player, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. 

"Outside noise can affect people in different ways. When I was younger, it affected me. It took me a while to understand that outside noise isn't what matters," Stokes told teammate Sanju Samson, with whom he stitched an unbeaten 152-run third-wicket stand, in a video posted over official IPL Twitter handle. 

"It's all about what's within the team and the people who have an influence on you at a certain time in your career," he added. 

Stokes also thanked RR team management for always keeping their faith on him despite the ups and downs over the past three years he has been with the franchise. 

"I found backing from everybody in the [Royals] franchise in the last three years. I know that I haven't delivered on the expectations but having the backing from the people that matter in this franchise is really the thing that I sort of pride everything on. So it was good to return a little bit of faith tonight," he said. 

(Inputs from ANI)