Veteran Punjabi film actor Nirmal Rishi receives Padma Shri
New Delhi: England all-rounder Ben Stokes is one of the most prolific players to have registered himself for the IPL 2017 Auctions. The 25-year-old, who drew special praise from Indian captain Virat Kohli during the ODI series between two nations, did make the fans question as to why he didn’t register for any other franchise cricket league before.
Speaking about his aspiration of playing in the Indian Premier League, Stokes revealed how impressed he was seeing IPL transforming the hitting ability of his fellow countryman Jos Butler – who last year had a successful full season with Mumbai Indians – and would want to emulate the same by making his debut in the cash-rich cricket league this year.
“We are a very strong team England wise but it will be nice to go away somewhere and focus on the skills that I want to get better at in T20 which are hitting the boundary, different areas and different options with the bat. How to bowl in a given situation but then also doing it against the best players in the world that those competitions (IPL) attract. Observing those players as well close up is another big thing. Just being in an environment with these guys, training with them, picking their minds on cricket is the kind of thing you can only benefit from,” Stokes said.
The English all-rounder is clearly impressed with the kind of talent IPL attracts from all around the world, and to be fair, any other franchise league across the globe would struggle in pulling such an amazing crowd, environment and indeed the players that India does.
Stokes statement also asserts that he isn’t there just for the money aspect but he sees this as an opportunity to learn from the best players and inherit a few abilities from them.
Stokes has registered himself for a base price of Rs. 2 crore for the upcoming IPL auctions.
