BEN Stokes is set to earn £1.7million during this year’s Indian Premier League after Rising Pune Supergiants made him the tournament’s record overseas signing.
The 25-year-old England all-rounder was expected to be the most prized player at the glitzy auction in Bangalore, and so it turned out as his price soared. Stokes’ value was confirmed in the first round of the auction – taking place at around 4:30am UK time, shortly before England’s Twenty20 specialist fast bowler Tymal Mills was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.4m.
Exactly a week after discovering he will be England’s new Test vice-captain, Stokes stayed up until the wee hours to follow events at the auction on Twitter. He will also be joined at the IPL in April and May by his England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan, snapped up by Kings XI Punjab for £240,000, and their international team-mate Chris Woakes – who fetched around £500,000 and will play for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Stokes said: “I tried to watch it live on a stream – but it wasn’t working, so I had to follow it on Twitter!
“There were so many tweets on it that it was hard to keep up and I was awake from about 3.30am. Then I had another hour’s sleep before I was up with the kids.
“I’m really pleased now that it’s sorted and it’s started to sink in. In terms of cricket experience, it will only do me the world of good.”
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