Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for next year’s Indian Premier League.
Stokes was bought by Chennai Super Kings for £1.65m last December, but struggled with his fitness and played only twice for his new franchise in the 2023 tournament. A longstanding knee injury failed to stop the Test captain from starring in the Ashes this summer, while he recently came out of 50-over retirement to feature in England’s unsuccessful defence of their World Cup crown in India.
He is set for surgery on his knee injury to ensure he is fit for England’s five-match Test series with India which begins in January and has cited the need to manage his workload as a reason for missing the 2024 IPL, with the Twenty20 World Cup also on the horizon in June.
Despite Stokes being unavailable for the defending IPL champions, the Super Kings management team are supportive of the all-rounder’s decision to skip next year’s tournament, that is expected to again run between March and May.
“England Test captain, all-rounder Ben Stokes, has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness,” a statement from Chennai Super Kings read. “Stokes, 32, became a part of the Super Kings ahead of the successful IPL 2023. He recently participated in the ODI World Cup 2023, which he came out of retirement for. The Chennai Super Kings management is supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a five-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024.”
Meanwhile, England have called up Matthew Potts for the upcoming one-day series with West Indies after the seamer Josh Tongue was ruled out of the tour with an injury.
England will play three 50-over matches in the Caribbean next month before five T20 internationals.
Tongue had continued his excellent breakthrough year on the international stage with a maiden white-ball call-up when the squads were announced on 12 November, but he has sustained a fitness problem during an England Lions training camp in the United Arab Emirates. It opens the door for Potts to return to the 50-over fold, having made three ODI appearances to date , the last of which was in September against Ireland.
