Stokes may duck IPL cash to focus on Tests

BEN STOKES is considering following the example set by his Test captain Joe Root by making himself unavailable for this year’s IPL. Root opted not to put his name forward for next month’s ‘mega auction’, saying after England’s Ashes defeat that ‘there’s a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy’. But while Root, who has never played in the world’s richest T20 tournament, was unlikely to have been picked up by an IPL franchise in any case, Stokes has played 43 matches — for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017 and then for Rajasthan Royals, who signed him for £1.4million the following year. This year’s tournament — expanded to 74 matches after the inclusion of two new franchises — begins on April 2 and ends on June 3, the day after the start of England’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s. It is understood Stokes (below), Root’s vice-captain, may decide to throw his energies into helping England’s Test team recover from the trauma of their 4-0 Ashes defeat, having himself spent time out of the game last year to look after his mental wellbeing and injured finger. Since England’s three-Test series in the Caribbean is due to end on March 28, his participation in the IPL would mean virtual non-stop cricket from late February through to spring 2023, with fixtures cancelled during the pandemic squeezed into a busy winter later this year.