England skipper Ben Stokes pulls out of IPL 2024 to manage his schedule

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday announced that England all-rounder Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 to manage his workload and fitness.

Stokes, who was a part of the CSK during a successful IPL 2023 season, opted out of the upcoming edition keeping in mind England's international schedule and his fitness.

"England Test captain, all-rounder Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness. 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," CSK said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Chennai Super Kings management is supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a 5-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024,” the statement added.

Stokes made his IPL debut for Rising Supergiant in 2017, for a whopping INR 14.5 crore, making him the most expensive foreign player at that time. The English cricketer displayed a promising performance in his maiden season, scoring 316 runs in 12 matches with an impressive strike rate of 142.98.

In his 45 IPL matches, Stokes has scored 935 runs and has also claimed 28 wickets. Stokes managed to play only two matches in the last season due to an injury.

A source privy to Chennai Super Kings suggests that Chennai might go for New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell as a replacement for Stokes.