England Test captain Ben Stokes said his participation in next year's Indian Premier League (IPL) will be purely dependent on how the schedule outside of international cricket will be, while calling the 10-team league "an amazing competition to be a part of."
Playing for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, Stokes was the IPL's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2017, making 316 runs and picking 12 wickets in as many matches. He was the most expensive player at the 2018 player auction when Rajasthan Royals bought him for INR 12.5 crores. In 31 appearances for Rajasthan, Stokes was able to register just one fifty and picked 16 wickets.
Stokes broke his left finger while dropping a catch in the deep in his lone appearance in IPL 2021 for Rajasthan. The injury went on to keep him out of action, including Stokes taking a break from the game for four-and-a-half months due to mental health reasons.
After coming back to the sport through the 2021-22 Ashes in Australia, Stokes decided against registering for the 2022 IPL mega auction.
"Our schedule as England cricketers is just jam-packed. We seem to be playing all year around. That's because our summer is everybody else's winter and when our winter comes around, it is summer for everybody else. People are coming to us and then we are going to the people to play cricket. It's a case of looking at the schedule, looking ahead to see what we have all got coming up.
"But as I had made very clear that Test match cricket is at the forefront of my mind and all of my decisions will be based around Test matches, obviously with the captaincy duties to do that. My commitment outside of international cricket will be purely based around the schedule and what international cricket we have coming up," said Stokes in a select virtual media interaction ahead of the release of his documentary 'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes'.
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In praise of the IPL and the exposure it provides to cricketers, Stokes remarked, "I have played in the IPL for four years. It's an amazing competition to be a part of. Not just for the spectacle of the IPL, but for the opportunity to work alongside some of the best players from all over the world and some of the best coaches that we are lucky enough to play with.
"It's just an amazing experience to be involved in. But as I said, there's schedule to look at and around the window where the IPL comes across in."
'When you know, you know' moment came after finishing first match against India: Stokes on ODI retirement
When England Test skipper Ben Stokes made the announcement to retire from ODI cricket citing an unsustainable schedule after the first of three matches against South Africa at his home ground in Durham, the cricketing world was left in shock.
No one could comprehend how the all-rounder arrived at the decision to walk away from a format which led to England winning the 2019 ODI World Cup on home soil.
Now, ahead of the release of his documentary 'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes', on Friday, Stokes revealed he was undecided over which white-ball format to retire from till the first ODI against India at The Oval ended.
After India won by 10 wickets, Stokes got the 'when you know, you know' feeling, an inkling which comes when a person realises or understands something, he/she definitely knows it's true.
"It was a tough decision. But also at the same time, it was pretty simple for me because I always had it in the back of my mind that I would have to walk away from one of the white-ball formats. I wasn't sure which one and wasn't going to make a decision until I was clear in my mind which one was it going to be. You people say they retire from anything that when they know, they know."
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"It was after I finished the first One-day game against India at The Oval and even just on the evening of that game, that was my 'when you know, you know' moment. It almost hit me in the face just like that. As hard as it was to know that I will be not playing this format again after my last game in Durham (against South Africa), it was also a decision that was made pretty easy because of how quickly it hit me."
Since Stokes chose to step away from ODIs, the future of the format has been the subject of a relentless debate over its future, especially with the proliferation of franchise T20 leagues. When quizzed about the future of ODI cricket and how it can be made relevant when T20 cricket is currently the dominating format, Stokes suggested reducing the number of overs from 50 to 40.
"The last thing anybody wants is that there is a format which will be taken away from the people. Maybe there is a way ICC can look; maybe restructuring the schedule or even re-doing the format. You look at England now, with The Hundred they have made it look a completely new format of cricket. But that still goes alongside the T20 version.
"Something that could be looked at, this is my own personal opinion and my view is that, maybe they could turn 50 overs into 40 overs? I mean, when I first started playing professional cricket, it was CB-40 (Clydesdale Bank 40 overs a side tournament by ECB). That was a really good format to play in. Nowadays, it would just have been the extended version of T20 cricket.
"I personally think that at the end, you would have seen the same scores anyway whether you do 40 overs or 50 overs. Because there is so much cricket, is there a way the schedules or formats could be looked at to still keep the three formats, but maybe less cricket, which I think making 40 overs instead of 50-overs could be a solution. But I think there's got to be a lot more thought that could be put into it. The last thing you want for the sport is for a certain format to be completely chucked away."
