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Ben Stokes' stunning reaction after being picked by Chennai franchise in mini-auction (Image Source: Twitter)
The mini-auction for the Indian T20 League 2023 season took place on December 23, Friday and the teams gave it their all to rope in their desired players to find the right balance. The auction kicked off with Kane Williamson going to the Gujarat franchise for a base price of INR 2 crore and it was the English star Harry Brook who started the bidding war.
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For the unversed, there was a massive bidding war between Rajasthan, Bangalore and Hyderabad. After pushing hard for more than 15 minutes, it was the Hyderabad franchise who roped him in for a whopping INR 13.25 crore. Mayank Agarwal, the Indian star batter, made a cut to the Hyderabad franchise for a whopping INR 8.25 crore.
Ben Stokes, the left-handed batter, was roped in by the Chennai franchise for INR 16.25 crore after getting involved in a bidding war with Rajasthan, Bangalore, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Fans, on the other hand, were stunned as they thought that the southpaw might go for a whopping amount.
Here is Ben Stokes’ reaction after getting picked by the Chennai franchise:
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) December 23, 2022
MS Dhoni joins hands with English allrounder once again
However, this will not be the first time that MS Dhoni and Stokes are joining hands together as the duo has already played together earlier for the Pune franchise in 2017. Eventually, Stokes managed to score a century that year, although it did not come under Dhoni’s captaincy.
With fans predicting that it might be the final Indian T20 League edition for the Indian veteran, the Three Lions Test captain might come as the potential skipper for the upcoming seasons. With the Chennai franchise sorting out their middle-order issue, the team would look to turn things around from the previous edition of the Indian T20 League.
Along with Stokes, the Dhoni-led think tank roped in Ajinkya Rahane for his base price of INR 50 lakh, banking on their strategy of going for players with proven prowess. With Robin Uthappa parting ways with the T20 extravaganza, Rahane might play the helping hand in the middle order.