Ben Stokes, Joe Root To Play County Championship- Reports 

Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes has decided to follow his Test captain Joe Root to bring transition in England’s Test cricket. Stokes has opted out from putting his name in the IPL 2022 mega auction.

The all-rounder will play in the County Championship in order to prepare for home summer as they will host New Zealand for three Test matches in June.

England was routed 4-0 by Australia in the recently concluded Ashes 2021-22 and after their disastrous campaign, experts have highly criticised England players for preferring to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League.

Ben Stokes set to join Joe Root in opting out of IPL 2022 auction

According to a report by ESPNCricinfo, IPL franchises aren’t expecting Stokes to enter the grand auction before its due date of January 20.

England Test captain Joe Root had earlier considered to throw his hat in the IPL 2022 mega auction but after suffering the defeat in Hobart, the 31-year-old reversed his decision and decided to focus on reviving Test cricket in his country.

“There’s a lot that we need to do for this [Test] team, which deserves all of my energy. I’ll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be,” Root said.

Ben Stokes’ IPL jounrey so far

Stokes was snapped by Rising Pune Supergiants for a huge sum of INR 14.50 crore in the IPL 2017 auction to become the most expensive overseas purchase in the history of the tournament at that point.

He played a vital role with 316 runs and picked 12 wickets with the ball in his maiden IPL season as RPS reached the final. Stokes wasn’t available to play the knockout matches as he had to leave for national commitments.

The England all-rounder was sold to Rajasthan Royals for INR 12.50 crore in the following season. Stokes played for them for three complete season before he was ruled out of IPL 2021 after injuring his left index finger during a match against Punjab Kings.

Stokes also took a break from cricket for five months before returning to England’s Ashes squad. Stokes wasn’t at his best in the Ashes as he amassed 236 runs from 10 innings at an average of 23.6.

Barring those couple of fifties in Sydney, the England all-rounder didn’t had any great outing with the bat in the Ashes.

Also Read: Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes Keen On Playing Fifth Test Despite Injury