Ben Stokes was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2023 mini-auction.
Stokes was sold in auction for whopping ₹16.25 crore in the auction. English all-rounder was the part of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2021 and could not participate in IPL 2022 due to personal reasons. Now he is all set to play in the yellow jersey in home ground Chepauk.
Stokes was bid by CSK by taking his captaincy ability into consideration as it can be utilised in future when MS Dhoni retires. Stokes would be a good option for the captain post as under his leadership England won 9 test matches out of 10 this year.
Former West Indies Chris Gayle was asked to choose the captain between MS Dhoni & Stokes, on which he replied “Dhoni. Once you are playing, you lead a team, okay? Done.”
Gayle also hailed CSK’s decision for roping Stokes in auction. “They are two fantastic minds in the dressing room, MSD and Ben Stokes. But I think Stokes will sit back and respect MSD and let him do his thing. The young players will also get to learn a lot from Stokes. It’s good to have him and he still has the likes of DJ Bravo in the CSK ranks,” Gayle said.