DTVHINDI
England Test captain Ben Stokes is probably planning to withdraw his name from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega-auction to give greater priority to England’s Test cricket. He did not name his name in the IPL 2024 auction to focus on the Ashes. Star all-rounder Stokes played his last IPL match in 2023.
Stokes played only two matches for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) that season. CSK had bought Stokes in the auction for a huge amount of Rs 16.25 crore but he could not play most of the matches due to injury. Now once again Stokes can withdraw his name from IPL to focus on the upcoming series of England.
Ben Stokes can now withdraw his name from the mega auction of IPL 2025
According to The Telegraph report, Stokes not being named in the IPL 2025 mega auction means that he is considering focusing completely on white-ball cricket. He last played T20 International in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. However, the 33-year-old all-rounder returned in the ODI World Cup 2023 after retiring from ODI cricket. He has indicated to play ODI again.
Ben Stokes has a very busy schedule in 2025. England are scheduled to play home and away Test series against India and Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle. As an all-rounder, it is very important to manage Stokes’ workload. He has recently made a comeback after injury. In such a situation, it is very important for the England team to remain fit.
The 33-year-old player has played 43 IPL matches so far and has scored 974 runs and taken 28 wickets at an average of 34.79 and economy of 34.79 respectively. The last date of registration for IPL Mega Auction is Sunday (November 3). One reason for Stokes’ withdrawal from the auction is also believed to be the special rules of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for foreign players.
