IPL 2019 : 3 Overseas players who were lucky to be retained

#3. Ben Stokes of Rajasthan Royals

Ben Stokes was not the same impact player in IPL 2018 as he was in IPL 2017

After his wonderful IPL debut for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017, Ben Stokes was the most adored player in the IPL auction 2018. There was a heavy competition for him before Rajasthan Royals acquired him for an astounding price of 12.5 crores.

Unfortunately for Rajasthan Royals, Stokes failed both as a batsman and as a bowler. As a batsman, he scored 196 runs in 13 matches at a meagre average of 16. In bowling, Stokes took only 8 wickets and his economy rate was 8.18 per over.

He had to leave for national duty when the tournament reached its climax. In spite of the absence of Stokes, Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoffs where they were knocked over by KKR in the eliminator.

Stokes was not the same player in IPL 2018 as he was in IPL 2017 where he got the Most Valuable Player award. In 2017, it was largely due to his all-round efforts that Rising Pune Supergiant reached the final.

In 2018, he was overweighed by his heavy price tag and the huge expectations arising on account of that. Now that he has been retained by Rajasthan Royals, one can only hope that he becomes the impact player for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019 as he has been for England for so many years.