The all-rounders set in the Indian T20 League mini-auction on Friday gave the top three most expensive buys in the history of the tournament ever. After Sam Curran became the most expensive player in Indian T20 League getting sold to Punjab for 18.5 crores, his teammate Ben Stokes also got sold for a whopping 16.25 crores to Chennai. Welcoming the all-rounder to Chennai, Deepak Chahar put up a hilarious Instagram story for Ben Stokes.
Chahar put the footage of the auction on his story and wrote ‘Ooo Ben Stokes’ with laughing emojis. Stokes is now the most expensive player ever for Chennai surpassing Deepak Chahar who was bought for 14 crores in the 2022 mega auction.
Instagram story of Deepak Chahar after getting Stokes. pic.twitter.com/XSOLDNd6M5
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 23, 2022
Ben Stokes will return to Indian T20 League after 2021
Stokes had opted out of the Indian T20 League 2022 to play in the county championship in preparation for the home season. He made his Indian T20 League debut in 2017 playing for the now-defunct Pune franchise. The all-rounder had a remarkable debut season where he scored 316 runs at an average of 31.60 and a strike rate of 142.98. He also picked up 12 wickets with the ball in the season at an average of 26.33 and an economy of 7.18.
Owing to his stupendous performance in his debut season, Stokes was the most expensive player at the 2018 mega auction, signing an INR 12.5 crore deal with Rajasthan. He has scored 920 runs in 43 matches in his Indian T20 League career at an average of 25.56 and a strike rate of 134.50. He has scored two hundreds and two fifties so far in his career.
The 31-year-old has also picked up 28 wickets at an average of 34.79 and an economy of 8.56.
Stokes scored an unbeaten 52 in the final of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 to guide England to victory against Pakistan at the MCG. The right-arm medium pacer also picked six wickets with an economy of 6.79 in the tournament. At Chennai, Stokes will reunite with legendary MS Dhoni with whom he played in Pune in 2017.
