Ben Stokes: All you need to know about the IPL's most expensive overseas signing

England all-rounder Ben Stokes was recently named as the vice-captain of the country's Test side and will now perform the role of a deputy to captain Joe Root. After enjoying a good tour of India, the southpaw registered for the IPL auction 2017 and has now set a new world record. The Englishman caused an instant bidding war with Mumbai Indians exhibiting high interest for the player.

Mumbai along with Royal Challengers placed bid after bid and after a while, almost all teams tried their luck in the quest to buy the all-rounder. In the end, the left-handed batting all-rounder was picked up by the Rising Pune Supergiants outfit for an astonishing Rs. 14.5 crores.

Extra Cover: Ben Stokes reveals reason behind entering 2017 IPL Auction

The England cricketer doesn’t possess any impressive statistics in the T20 arena but has plenty to boast about in the Test matches as well as One-Day matches. In addition to his all-round abilities, Stokes is an excellent fielder; he can field in the slips and also has a powerful arm when he is fielding deep in the boundaries.

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#5 He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand

England all-rounder Ben Stokes was not born in England. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand and his father Gerard, was a citizen of New Zealand by birth.

Gerard Stokes was a Rugby player and has coached more than five teams in his career. Early on in his career, he was forced to take up Rugby, only to realise a little later that he was not passionate about the game and that he lacked the enthusiasm for the game of rugby.

At the age of 12, Stokes moved to England after his father was offered the job as the head coach of Workington Town rugby team. Stokes grew up in the town of Cockermouth and represented the Cockermouth Cricket Club.

After his father lost his job, Stokes’ family were enduring tough times before a mystery benefactor recognised Stokes’ potential and helped him in the early stages of his cricket career. He has won three major English Cricket titles with his boyhood club.

#4 His anger issues

Stokes is an emotional player and had his problems in dealing with emotions throughout his career

Stokes has had his part in verbal duels on and off the field and has also been reprimanded for the same. Unlike most of the England players, Stokes has involved himself in sledging and has also experienced embarrassing moments when Marlon Samuels gave him the ‘Send off Salute’.

But off the field, Stokes has suffered from injuries which were caused due to his anger. In 2013, in the final T20 match of the series against West Indies at the Kensington Oval, Stokes was dismissed for a nought. In frustration, the English southpaw returned to the dressing room and punched the locker. He ended up fracturing his finger and also earned the nickname ‘The Hurt Locker’.

Due to the finger injury which he sustained that day, Stokes was not a part of the England squad for the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. This was not the first instance of his issues with anger. In his teenage days, he had punched a fire-door and ended up with a similar injury.

#3 He sports Tattoos on both arms

Stokes is reliant on motivation and hence dons tattoos on both arms for the same

Stokes is one the few cricket players to sport complex tattoos on both the arms. The tattoos include motivational quotes and one of the quotes read, “Being the best that you can be is only possible if you desire to be a champion and your fear of failure is non-existent."

England reached the final in the 2016 T20 World Cup where Stokes was key in the team’s success but endured a horrible game in the final against West Indies. He was smashed for four sixes in the final over by Carlos Brathwaite and to England’s surprise, the Windies snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

After a couple of weeks, Stokes got a new tattoo of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Again, it was probably to motivate himself after taking the brunt of the blame for the final over of the T20 World Cup.

#2 Second fastest double century in Test cricket

Despite struggling early on in his Test career, he bats at No.6 and is now the pillar of lower order

In the second Test of England’s tour of South Africa in January 2016 at Cape Town, England batted first and had lost half their side for just 223 runs. Stokes, who had walked in at No. 6, joined wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and piled up 399 runs for the sixth wicket.

This was the second highest partnership in the history of English cricket and the highest partnership for the 6^th wicket in the history of Test cricket.

In that innings, Stokes scored 258 runs off just 198 balls. En route to his best score in Test cricket, he became the second fastest player to score a double century. He reached 200 in 163 deliveries, which is 10 more than Nathan Astle’s record.

However, he ensured that he reached the 250 mark as the fastest player. He scored 250 in just 196 balls.

#1 Costliest overseas player in IPL history

Stokes has to pay 100,000 to ECB for his participation in IPL and now has plenty of money to cover that

In the 2017 IPL auction, Ben Stokes became the costliest foreign player ever to be auctioned for the glamorous T20 League. Out of the eight IPL sides, six sides were involved in fierce bidding for the talented all-rounder. This is the first time Stokes took part in the auctions of the IPL.

In the World T20 last year, he did not enjoy much with the ball or the bat but possessed a strike rate close to 170 after getting an opportunity to bat in five innings. He has a career strike rate of 136.17 in T20s and has snatched 10 wickets.

Today, Stokes broke the record for the costliest overseas player held by Shane Watson in the 2016 IPL Auction. The Australian all-rounder was purchased by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping Rs. 9.5 crore.

However, Stokes became the most expensive overseas player in the history after he was purchased for a staggering Rs. 14.5 crores.

In addition to this, he is now the second costliest player in the history of IPL. Yuvraj Singh heads the list after he was purchased Rs. 16 crores in 2015 by Delhi Daredevils and released him the subsequent season.