23 November 2023 , 12:31
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England Test captain Ben Stokes has decided to withdraw from playing in the Indian Premier League next year.
Stokes had been due to play for Chennai Super Kings from March to May 2024 after joining the franchise for £1.63million (16.25 crore) at the last auction in December. The 32-year-old is CSK’s most expensive ever player and the joint-third most expensive in the competition’s history.
The all-rounder is set to undergo surgery on his left knee after playing for England in their dreadful World Cup campaign in India. Stokes, who has played through pain over the past 18 months and has seen his bowling severely limited by the injury, previously took a break from cricket to protect his mental health in 2021.
A statement from CSK read: “England Test captain, all-rounder Ben Stokes, has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness. Stokes, 32, became a part of the Super Kings ahead of the successful IPL 2023.
“He recently participated in the ODI World Cup 2023, which he came out of retirement for. 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.”
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Stokes will be going under the knife in the coming days in the hope that he will be fit enough to lead England’s Test team against India in January. He made 304 runs at an average of 50 in six innings during England’s disastrous defence of their World Cup title in India, but did not bowl.
His withdrawal will come as a blow to CSK, who have only got two matches out of their investment so far. Stokes only played in the first two matches of the 2023 season, scoring just 15 runs with the bat and conceding 18 runs in his only over with the ball before leaving early to give his body time to prepare for England Test duty over the summer.
Ben Stokes is set to undergo surgery on his left knee (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Speaking in Ahmedabad earlier in November, he said: "I am having surgery after the World Cup. I will be fine for the Test series in India, hopefully."
He was also brutally honest about England’s performances at the World Cup. "The problem is that we've been c***," he said. "Every opportunity that we've had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition's managed to get it back towards them.
"We've been nowhere near good enough to be able to compete in a World Cup, which has been incredibly disappointing because we know we're so, so much better than what we've shown out here. If we knew what had gone wrong, we would have been able to fix it. But unfortunately, we don't. It's one of those tournaments where it's just been a disaster."