On Wednesday, England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes confirmed that he will cut short his Indian Premier League (IPL) commitment and gave a big blow to his franchise Chennai Super Kings and his fans. He said he want to be available for England at the start of their 2023 Test summer, which will kick off with a match against Ireland from June 1.
Stokes was picked up for Rs 16.25 crore by four-time IPL champions CSK in the auction back in December last year. During England’s last year’s series with Pakistan, he had expressed his intentions to return to the competition after missing the 2022 edition of the league. But the final of IPL will take place on May 28, just four days before the first Test of English summer at Lord’s against Ireland on June 1. It will serve as some much-needed match practice ahead of the Ashes against Australia, which will start from June 16 onwards.
It is pretty normal for centrally-contracted players to miss the latter stages of IPL because of how it coincides with the start of international cricket summer in England. However, the current regime of director of men’s cricket Rob Key and Test head coach Brendon McCullum has adopted a more relaxed approach and has seen England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) work with players in case of clashes between international and franchise cricket. A number of players turned down England’s upcoming white-ball tour of Bangladesh, starting from March 1 onwards, to fulfil their commitments at the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL).
As Test skipper, Stokes has led England to a win in 10 of their 11 matches. This record might have earned him a right to play the full competition. But Stokes has kept interests of England cricket above IPL and decided it would be best to return early.
“Yes, I will play,” Stokes said to a sports channel. “I will be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that [Ireland] game,” Stokes added