What’s the story?
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes England have to handle Ben Stokes’ IPL situation better than they did with Kevin Pietersen after the all-rounder was picked up for INR 14.5 crore (£1.7m) by Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL Auction 2017.
In his column for The Telegraph, former England captain wrote: “I do not have a clue what Mike Atherton or Nasser Hussain earned, and they played in a different era, but I suspect Stokes is earning in six weeks what those two did over their whole career from playing cricket.”
He also added that Ben Stokes will be in attendance at a dinner arranged by England’s Director of cricket, Andrew Strauss and even joked “Hopefully if Stokes is a good lad he will buy us all a drink.”
Extra Cover: IPL XI cheaper than Ben Stokes
In case you didn’t know...
Ben Stokes became the most expensive foreign player in the history of the IPL after he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for INR 14.5 crore in the IPL Auction 2017 held at Bengaluru on February 20. He broke the record previously held by English duo of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff and was the second-most expensive player in IPL history, behind only Yuvraj Singh.
Details
On the back of impressive performances for England across all formats of the game, Ben Stokes was expected to be one of the biggest draws at the IPL Auction. But few could have predicted the furious bidding war that occurred at the Ritz-Carlton for the England all-rounder.
Eventually, he was snapped up by Rising Pune Supergiants, who will be captained by Steve Smith. Michael Vaughan’s assertion that he will probably earn more in just six weeks than two former England captains is perhaps right but isn’t a fair comparison. It merely highlights the money that is in the game of cricket these days and speaks volumes about the spending power of teams in domestic T20 competitions like the IPL.
Extra Cover: IPL Auction 2017: 5 Foreign players who caused a bidding war
What’s next?
Following England’s tour of West Indies, Ben Stokes’ maiden taste of the Indian Premier League will come in its tenth edition where looks set to play in Rising Pune Supergiants’ first game against Mumbai Indians at Pune on April 6, 2017.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Comparing the salaries of cricketers from two decades ago and today doesn’t make for an apples-to-apples comparison. While it is true that Ben Stokes will earn more than an average county professional or an England Test player by just playing for six weeks in the IPL, that is because of the teams that wanted him and has nothing to do with him at all.
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