AGENCIES
NEW DELHI
Ben Stokes’ 33-ball half-century might not have been enough to get England over the line in the first one-day international against India but it could have added a digit to his price tag for the upcoming Indian Premier League auction.
Stokes threw his hat in the ring for next month’s auction late last week and his blistering cameo, the fastest 50 by an Englishman against India, propelled England to their highest-ever ODI score against their hosts. It proved to be not enough, as Virat Kohli struck his 27th ODI ton and Kedar Jadhav blasted a century of his own to help India reel in the total in the penultimate over. However Stokes’ chances of joining national team-mates Sam Billings and Jos Buttler in the IPL will have been boosted by his 40-ball 62, which included five sixes.
"This year's IPL is a chance, not just for myself, but a few of the other English guys to go ahead and experience what it's like,” Stokes told reporters in Pune ahead of the first ODI. "Get a different side of T20 cricket, rather than just play in England.
"In terms of the English summer, it is quite hard to get away and go and experience what it is like to play in these foreign T20 leagues."
With the lucrative competition overlapping with the beginning of the English domestic season, the IPL has been source of tension with the England and Wales Cricket Board. The likes of limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan and former Test star Kevin Pietersen have opted to play for their IPL franchises instead of their counties in the past. But under their Australian coach Trevor Bayliss and ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss, England have softened their stance towards in regards to national players going abroad for domestic T20 leagues.
Bayliss admitted Adil Rashid was left out of England’s squad for their tour to South Africa in December 2015 so he could instead play for the Adelaide Strikers in last summer’s KFC Big Bash League, as the leg-spinner was only likely to carry the drinks against the Proteas. And Stokes stressed he remains committed to the national side, with England’s ODI series against Ireland set to run concurrently with the back-end of the IPL.
This year’s IPL will run from April 5 to May 21, with England set to play Ireland on May 5 in Bristol and May 7 at Lord’s. "I am an England player, so the decision will get made on what would happen then," he said. "I'll just go with whatever... if they feel that it is best for the English guys who go out there to stay over there, then we'll follow that. And if they want us to come back to represent England, which is what our job is to do, then we'll come back and have no complaints."
