England’s Ben Stokes ruled out of IPL auction, Ben has revealed that he opted out of this weekend’s IPL auction as Test cricket is his “number one priority”.
The Most Expensive Player in the Auction :-
Stokes was the IPL’s MVP in 2017 and was the most expensive player in the 2018 auction when Rajasthan Royals bought him for Rs. 12.5 million (about £1.37 million) but has not registered for the 2022 mega-auction.
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Stokes’ return was much for Rajasthan – he scored two fifties and took 16 wickets in 31 matches – but his dexterity as an all-rounder and his versatile ability with the bat had the potential to be a major draw at the auction.
Lucknow Supergiants’ mentor Gautam Gambhir has indicated that the franchise would have signed Ben Stokes before Marcus Stoinis had he been successful.
He “Thought Long And Hard” About It :-
Writing in his Daily Mirror column, Stokes said he “thought long and hard” about whether he should enter the auction, but decided that two months of early-season County Championship cricket would stop him and England. Will get good service from their first match. The summer home Test against New Zealand on 2 June.
Stokes along with Joe Root, Sam Curran, and Chris Woakes is one of several multi-format England players not to feature in the auction, although others including Jonny Bairstow, David Malan, and Mark Wood will be up for sale in Bengaluru.
Any England Test player selected in the IPL is likely to miss the last leg of the season to prepare for the first Test.
Stokes wrote, “It was a very disappointing Ashes campaign, but we have to learn from it and start working to get the team back where we want to be.”
“It will take time, persuasively, it will. Even the white-ball team took time to get to the point where we could have won the World Cup.
“And we now look forward to embarking on a similar journey with the Test team. With everyone 100 percent involved in what is needed to improve and be among the best teams again.
I Want To Go To IPL Or Not :-
“That’s why I thought long and hard about whether or not to go into the IPL and realized. That it wasn’t about money but where are my priorities. It wouldn’t be fair to any team that I signed on.” If I hadn’t been fully focused on the things in there.
Ben said his former Durham teammate, Paul Collingwood, is the “ideal person” to take over as interim head coach. After backing his appointment for March’s tour of the Caribbean.
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“Having Coley as interim head coach to begin this challenge is a huge dividend for us. As he offers so much and already has good relationships to work with.” He wrote.
“He has an infectious enthusiasm and craze for the game. And because he’s been there and understands what we’re doing, he translates it wonderfully for the players.
