England all-rounder Ben Stokes will leave the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season to prepare for his country's Test summer after being picked up by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 16.25 Crore, he said ahead of the second Test vs New Zealand on Wednesday, February 22.
The IPL will final will take place on May 28, just four days before England's first Test of the summer against Ireland at the Lord's which kicks off on June 1 and precedes their five-match Ashes series.
Stokes has flourished after taking over the Test captaincy of his side with 10 wins in 11 matches since taking over full-time. "Yes, I'll play," Stokes answered when asked if he will play the Ireland Test. "I'll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that [Ireland] game."
For Team England, the new hierarchy of the director of men's cricket Rob Key and Test coach Brendon McCullum has been slight flexibility. For example, a number of players turned down England's white-ball tour of Bangladesh to fulfil their Pakistan Super League contracts.
There are eight more English Test players on bumper contracts in the IPL 2023 season — Joe Root, Mark Wood, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Harry Brook.
Speaking in Wellington ahead of the second Test at the Basin Reserve, Stokes confirmed that he would want to go in with an unchanged XI. However, question marks remain over whether to play seamers James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad, after the trio guided them to a 267-run win at Mount Maunganui.
Robinson is expected to rest after suffering discomfort below his left knee on Day 3 of the first Test. Matthew Potts and Olly Stone will be expected to take his place.
"If we have got a couple of people who are a bit sore, or bowlers who don't feel like they are 100 per cent right to go, then I will still be picking my best team because I will be picking the XI who are able to play," Stokes said. "So it's the beauty of the squad we've got at the moment - if someone doesn't feel like they're quite up to performing again after a close turnaround, we'll still be able to pick the best team judging by the people we've got," he said.
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