Bought in by a whooping 16.25 crores by the CSK, England Skipper Ben Stokes would be seen donning a different yellow jersey in the upcoming IPL. However, the all-rounder has laid his priorities set on captaincy duties for his country looking at the Ashes ahead.
The Indian Premier League’s group stages run through May 21. The semifinals and championship match will be played after that, and on June 1 England will play Ireland at Lord’s in their penultimate encounter before the highly anticipated series Ashes 2023.
“That series is bigger”- Ben Stokes
Stokes announced that he will leave the IPL season with the four-time champion team early to join the England Test squad in the summer, ahead of the second New Zealand-England Test at Basin Reserve. Which all of his compatriots will follow remains to be seen.
“Yes, I’ll play. I’ll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that [Ireland] game,” said Stokes.
“I’ll probably get round the individuals and ask them what they want to be ready for the Ashes, because those five games are the big ones of the summer, and you’ve got to think about what lads want. But what if something was to happen in that game [Ireland] and we lose someone for the Ashes…It’s just one of those where you have to weigh up the options of what the person actually wants out of that week, versus do we really need to play that one. Because, obviously, I’m right in saying that series is bigger than that game against Ireland.” he further added.
National Duties over Franchise cricket
The English players despite their heavy demands have always given the most importance to their national duties over the Indian Premier League, many of them leaving before the group stages in the previous editions.
Since taking over as full-time Test captain, Ben Stokes has led his team to 10 victories in 11 games. With that kind of record, he might have been eligible to play the entire competition and drop in for the first Test at Lord’s. Ben Stokes has determined that returning early would be the wisest course of action.