English allrounder stoked with $3m sale

England’s NZ-born allrounder Ben Stokes is stunned at his record price at the Indian Premier League.

Stokes fetched NZ$3.01m, the most paid for an overseas star, as Stephen Fleming’s Rising Pune Supergiants splashed out on him at the auction in Bangalore.

‘‘Life-changing’’, ‘‘mental’’ and ‘‘carnage’’ were just some of the words used by Stokes, 25, to describe his new-found fortune.

‘‘It’s been a pretty incredible week and, considering you normally have your most exciting times when you’re playing, it’s been an amazing and interesting few days,’’ said Stokes, recently appointed England vice-captain.

‘‘I set my alarm for 3.30am, got up and waited about 40 minutes for my turn in the auction. I was anxious, not really knowing what would happen.

‘‘I was following it on Twitter, I didn’t actually see it live. I saw people were tweeting and then I realised that Pune had got me.’’

Stokes found himself the centre of a bidding war between Pune, the Delhi Daredevils and the Sunrisers Hyderabad that pushed his price higher and higher.

Stokes said the record price was initially lost on him because he was unaware what the conversion rate was on the Indian currency.

‘‘I wasn’t sure how much a Crore was, people were retweeting stuff, it was complete carnage,’’ he said.

‘‘Seven times my base amount that’s mental and it hasn’t sunk in yet. Hopefully I’ll live up to it, win a few games and deliver on what they’ve paid for me.

‘‘It’s a life-changing amount of money, I can’t really say more than that.’’