Chennai Super Kings acquired the services of England’s Test captain and the ODI and T20 World Cup winner Ben Stokes in what turned out to be the third most expensive buy of the IPL 2023 mini-auction held in Kochi on Friday.
One of the game’s finest all-rounders across formats, the Englishman was unsurprisingly one of the most sought-after players in the event, receiving bids from Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants, until CSK, the four-time IPL winners, managed to bag him.
Sam Curran (INR 18.5 crores to Punjab Kings) and Cameron Green (17.50 crores to Mumbai Indians) were the other major buys of the day, with CSK having also gone all out for the former, who was a part of the IPL 2021 winning campaign.
Also read 👉 IPL 2023 mini-auction: Curran & Green the highest-bid picks; Stokes goes to CSK
Stokes’ inclusion means that he now reunites with MS Dhoni, the two having represented the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant back in 2017. Stokes was the Player of the Tournament in the team’s runners-up finish then.
“Getting an all-rounder the calibre of Ben Stokes was really a very good one for the team. He has the experience of winning two World Cups for England. Another World Cup-winning captain, our ‘Thalaivan’ is, I think it will be a great combination for CSK,”
said team CEO Kasi Viswanathan in a video shared by CSK on Twitter.
“The three all-rounders went for a big price, we knew we had a chance. And I think we grabbed that chance and we are lucky to have it. We have a very good mix of all-rounders in the sense we have Ben Stokes, we have Jadeja, we have Moeen Ali and we have Kyle Jamieson. So, I think it’s a good blend.
