Stokes opts out of IPL 2024 to 'manage workload and fitness'

Stokes opts out of IPL 2024 to ‘manage workload and fitness’،

England’s Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness. The franchise, in a statement on its website, said it “supports Ben in his decision.”

The Super Kings, however, have not said whether they will release Stokes.

The IPL has set Sunday, November 26 as the deadline for franchises to announce their retentions and releases for the 2024 season. If they do not release Stokes, the Super Kings will have the option to retain him before the mega auction of IPL 2025. And if they release him by Sunday, the Super Kings will be able to use the INR 16.25 they had bought him for, during the auction. next month.

At the end of the World Cup, Stokes revealed he would undergo knee surgery, a step he had been putting off for a while. Depending on his rehabilitation, Stokes and the ECB will determine the timetable for his return.

Stokes, who was the Super Kings’ most expensive purchase in the auction ahead of the IPL 2023 season for INR 16.25 crore ($1.98 million approx at the time), played only two games during the season, scoring 15 points and playing only the one completed. This was partly due to the left knee injury, which forced him to start the season as a specialist hitter. The knee injury is long-standing but flared up during England’s tour of New Zealand in February this year. Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said at the time that the team would wait until Stokes was “100 per cent ready” before asking him to play.

More recently, after coming out of retirement from ODI to play in the World Cup in India, Stokes was one of England’s best batters, although the team had a horror run in the tournament. Stokes played six of England’s nine matches after missing the first three with a hip problem, but finished as their second highest scorer behind Dawid Malan. Stokes, who did not play at all in the World Cup, scored 304 runs in his six innings, including two half-centuries and a century, ending with a run-scoring stand of 64 (against Australia ), 108 (against the Netherlands) and 84 (against Australia). against Pakistan). He averaged 50.66 and had a strike rate of 89.14.

As things stand, Stokes, the England Test captain, is hoping to travel to India for the five-Test series, which runs from January 25 to March 11.

“I’ve been working a lot outside of cricket to give myself the best chance of recovering quicker and, with Christmas and everything coming up, the main thing for me is to get my knee repaired well and be ready and raring to go. go for this Test series in India,” Stokes had said after England’s final match at the World Cup.