England's Test skipper Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL) season citing fitness and workload concerns, as confirmed by his current IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Chennai had spent a whopping INR 16.25 crore to rope Stokes in at the IPL 2023 mini-auction in Kerala but the star allrounder was only able to play two games for the team due to a knee injury.
Stokes has been battling a left knee injury for the last 18 months and is about to go under the knife soon to get back to his all-round best. His injury has put a limit to his all-round prowess as he hasn't been bowling in competitive cricket since July 1.
The Chennai Super Kings have issued a media advisory and mentioned that they are "supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a 5-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024".
Stokes, 32, represented the Three Lions at the recently concluded ODI World Cup in India and produced a stellar show with the willow in hand to ensure an ICC Champions Trophy berth for a struggling Jos Buttler side. The southpaw couldn't feature at the initial stage of the tournament with a sore hip but saved the defending champions from a lot of humiliation at the later stage of the event.
The Canterbury-born made a lasting impact on England's miserable campaign as he aggregated 304 runs in six games at an astounding batting average of 50.66.
His terrific show with the bat saw him score a match-winning ton against the Netherlands at the Maharashtra Cricket Ground in Pune and two half-centuries against Australia and Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium and Eden Gardens respectively.
England's Test tour of India will get underway on January 25 (2024) with the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
