Ben Stokes bought in for a whopping INR 14.5 crores by Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL Auction 2017

England all-rounder Ben Strokes was bought in by Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) at a staggering price of INR 14.5 crores, amid the IPL Auction 2017 at Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Bengaluru on Monday. Ben Strokes is a class player, and has been a linchpin as all-rounder in the English setup, be it any game format. It will be his first participation in Indian Premier League besides having played for Durham in the limited over’s game. Nonetheless, Ben Stokes hasn’t played any T20 competition with any franchise before. He has scored more than 1,000 T20 runs, while he likewise has 32 wickets in this game format from 77 matches, as he hopes to substantiate himself in the competition.

Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) will be amongst the teams who will make suitable changes in IPL Auction 2017 for the abysmal performance in the last season. With MS Dhoni in charge, they had everything to make it yet injured stars and bad form of key players reserved them the last spot throughout the competition. Moreover, the blur camaraderie amongst Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin attributed to the cause. However, things will be fascinating for RPS this season with Skipper MS Dhoni replaced by Australia’s Steven Smith as the captain of the side on Sunday.