Flamboyant England all-rounder Ben Stokes is eyeing an IPL contract and could well be a part of the upcoming season, sources close to the ECB confirmed. Stokes, who previously didn’t feature in the IPL players auction list and opted to keep himself fresh, has changed his mind this time around and is more than eager to participate in the tournament.
As per a report in The Times, Stokes is set to keep his base price of £238,000 for the upcoming player’s auction next month in Bengaluru. England stars Jos Buttler and Sam Billings had productive outings in the IPL last season as the duo enjoyed a good run of form in the tournament. While Buttler did well for Mumbai Indians, Billings was a part of Delhi Daredevils.
Stokes recently was among the few English players who personally had a good tour of India. Despite the results not going his side’s way, Stokes did reasonably well in the five-match Test series between the two sides.
With the bat, he commenced his tour of India with a fine century at Rajkot in the drawn Test. Throughout the course of the series, he was trusted by skipper Alastair Cook to bowl with the old ball and enjoyed one fine spell in the third Test at Mohali.
The upcoming edition of the IPL commences on April 5 and will go on till May 21. England have two games in between, both ODIs against Ireland on 5th and 7th May respectively. In case Stokes is selected for the games, he will have to leave by May 1 at most.