Mumbai Indians franchise offers Ben Stokes Rs. 8.65 crore to play in SA20, all-rounder to miss T20Is vs India 

The Mumbai Indians franchise's MI Cape Town has reportedly offered England Test captain Ben Stokes a massive £800,000 (or about INR 8.65 crore) to play for them in the third edition (2025) of SA20, South Africa's premier private T20 league.

According to The Telegraph, Stokes is likely to accept the deal and be available for the entire length of the tournament between January 9 and February 8. This would mean he'd be unavailable for selection for the five-T20I series against India slated to be played between January 22 and February 2.

Being the Test captain, Stokes is committed to the format. However, in other formats he's still picking and choosing what series to feature in.

He remained unavailable for selection for the 2024 T20 World Cup, citing his need to build fitness. In ODIs, he has retired and un-retired in the last few years and was said to be considering retiring again in 2023.

Perhaps the Mumbai Indians franchise's inclination towards Stokes comes from his brilliant record against the IPL team. In the Indian league, the all-rounder has done well for Rajasthan Royals, including an MVP performance in 2017.

He switched to Mumbai's rivals, Chennai Super Kings, in 2023 but missed the last season citing fitness and workload management needs.

If he does sign for MI Cape Town, it might create a new interesting dynamic. Mumbai Indians were also reportedly in talks with English pacer Jofra Archer last year to get him to sign a full-fledged contract.

Ben Stokes' T20 record

Stokes' T20 record is not nearly as good as his Test numbers -- 585 runs at a strike rate of 128 in T20Is and 3,000 runs at a strike rate of 133 in non-international games in the format.

However, his experience and ability to anchor batting line-ups is considered invaluable. His value has also increased in recent times since he has started bowling at full tilt in red-ball cricket.