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

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


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

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. In case they do not release Stokes, Super Kings will have the option to retain him before the IPL 2025 mega auction .

At the end of the World Cup, Stokes had revealed that he would undergo knee surgery, a step that had been delayed for some time. 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 2023 IPL season – Rs 16.25 crore (approximately $1.98 million at the time) – played just two matches throughout the season, scoring 15 runs and pitching only the one he finished. 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 was exacerbated during England’s tour of New Zealand in February this year. Stephen Fleming, the Super Kings coach, had said at the time that the team would wait for Stokes to be “100% ready” before asking him to bowl.

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

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

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

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