Ben Stokes IPL 2022 team: Why is Ben Stokes not part of IPL 2022 mega auction?

Ben Stokes IPL 2022 team: The English all-rounder has not registered his name in the upcoming IPL mega auction to happen in February.

The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League is not so far away. Ahead of the event, a mega auction will take place in Bengaluru on 12 and 13 February. This time there will be a total of 10 ten teams will be participating in the tournament. Apart from the existing eight teams, Lucknow and Ahmedabad are the new franchises this season.

A total of 1214 cricketers, 896 Indians, and 318 overseas players have signed for the Auction. Some notable exclusions from the list are Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Joe Root, Mitchell Starc, and Chris Gayle.

Ben Stokes IPL 2022 team

Ben Stokes is a superstar of cricket, and it was almost sure that he will earn a big sum of money in the Auction. However, he has decided not to take part in the upcoming IPL auction. He will instead now play in the English County Championship to improve his red-ball game. England recently suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Australia in the Ashes.

The former English players have heavily criticized the current crop of players about their performance. They said that the players are just after the cash-rich white-ball leagues, and they are not prioritizing test matches. The County Championship clashes with the IPL, and that’s why Ben Stokes has decided to opt out this year.

Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the IPL following a broken finger in last night’s game. 😔

He will stay with the Royals and support the rest of the group in the upcoming matches. 💗#RoyalsFamily | @benstokes38 pic.twitter.com/WVUIFmPLMJ

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 13, 2021

Ben Stokes was quite late to join the IPL extravaganza. In 2017, he gave his name in the Auction, and the rest was history. Rising Pune Supergiants bought the English all-rounder for a whopping 14.5 crores in the auction. He scored 316 runs in that season including a century.

In 2018, Rajasthan Royals bought him for 12.5 Crores, and he has played all the remaining seasons with them. In 2021, he injured his finger in the first game, and he was forced to miss the rest of the tournament. However, the IPL records of Ben Stokes does not justify his talent. He has scored 920 IPL runs at 25.55, whereas he has scalped 28 wickets in bowling.