IPL 2024: Ben Stokes will sit out next Indian Premier League season, confirm defending champions CSK | Sports News
Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness, Chennai Super Kings said on Thursday.
“The Chennai Super Kings management is supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a 5-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024,” the franchise said in a statement.
The deadline for teams to retain and release players is set for Sunday, 26 November. The CSK statement did not indicate if Stokes was released from the squad yet.
England Test captain Stokes, 32, came out of retirement from ODIs to play for England at the ODI World Cup 2023. England had a dismal World Cup campaign, but Stokes did alright after coming into the XI later in the tournament. He nursed an injury in the early pat of the World Cup but finished England’s campaign with three 50-plus scores, including a century against the Netherlands.
Stokes, however, did not bowl in the tournament for England.
Stokes was recruited CSK for a whopping sum of Rs 16.25 crore in the last auction, where overseas allrounders went for big bucks in general. He was the most expensive signing the franchise in IPL auction hory. Stoke had just come off a T20 World Cup-winning campaign with England and his signing was seen as a possible leadership option. But the English superstar barely featured in the 2023 season, playing just two matches and scoring 15 runs, while bowling 6 balls. He was nursing a knee injury during that time as well.
CSK would, however, go on to win the tournament defeating Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad.
