Ben Stokes will miss the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the England Test captain did not register for the mega auction, scheduled to be held in Riyad, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. Stokes’ name was missing from the long list of 1,574 players who have registered for the player’s auction. For the unversed, Stokes won’t be eligible to register for the IPL 2026 mini auction, which means that he will be barred from playing the next season too.
As per the IPL governing council’s new rule, “Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn’t register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year’s player auction.”
The 33-year-old also decided to give the last season of the IPL a miss in order to manage his workload and focus on his fitness. Meanwhile, Stokes’ compatriot James Anderson has registered for the IPL for the very first time.
The 42-year-Anderson, who retired from Test cricket earlier this year, last played a T20 10 years ago in 2014.
Ace Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who has gone unsold in previous auctions, has also entered the fray with the a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who was the most expensive buy in the IPL’s last auction at a price of Rs 24.50 crore, is back in the pool for this year’s auction with a base price of Rs 2 crore.
England quick Jofra Archer, who last played in the 2023 edition, is also listed for the same base price.
With up to six players permitted to be retained ahead of the mega auction, IPL teams can build a squad of 25 players each and there will be 204 slots available after 46 players were retained by 10 teams put together.
Each team will have a total purse of Rs 120 crore as Punjab Kings have the biggest purse of Rs 110.5 crore, followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru with Rs 83 crore, Delhi Capitals with Rs 73 crore and Gujarat Titans with Rs 69 crore.
Lucknow Super Giants will also have Rs 69 crore in their purse while five-time winners Chennai Super Kings will have Rs 55 crore.
Last year’s winners Kolkata Knight Riders will come into the auction with Rs 51 crore in purse while five-time champions Mumbai Indians will have Rs 45 crore, last year’s runner-up Sunrisers Hyderabad will have Rs 45 crore and Rajasthan Royals will have Rs 41 crore.
(With PTI Inputs)
