The mini-auction for the IPL 2023 took place yesterday in Kochi and a total of 405 players went under hammer in order to get a chance to play for any of the 10 IPL franchises.
The English cricketer Sam Curran became the talk of the town after he was purchased by Punjab Kings for a hefty price of Rs. 18.5 crore which made him the most expensive cricketer in the history of the league. The second most expensive player of the IPL 2023 auction is Australia’s Cameron Green who has been purchased for Rs. 17.5 crore by Mumbai Indians and the third most expensive player is the current skipper of the England test team Ben Stokes for whom Chennai Super Kings spent a huge amount of Rs. 16.25 crore.
Ben Stokes was one of the most sought after cricketer of the IPL 2023 auction as he played an important role in his team’s ICC T20 World Cup 2022 win by playing a superb knock in the finals against Pakistan. CSK fans are quite happy with Ben Stokes joining the team and many of them feel that the 31 years old cricketer can be a good option for captaincy after Dhoni retires because most probably, this is the last IPL of Mahi as the skipper.
CSK was able to purchase Ben Stokes after fighting an intense bidding war with other franchises, when the name of Ben Stokes was announced, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore started the bidding war but as the price went high, they both decided to stop bidding and at this juncture, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad began bidding for Ben Stokes because of which his price crossed Rs. 10 crore mark. This is when CSK entered the bidding war, defeated the other franchises and made its chances of winning the IPL 2023 stronger by purchasing Ben Stokes.
Twitter was also flooded with reactions of happy fans and followers of CSK and here are some selected tweets:
#1
Ben Stokes & MS Dhoni together, #CSK is the most dangerous team now in #IPL2023
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) December 23, 2022
#2
CSK's best pick ever ? This is brilliant #BenStokes #IPLAuction
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) December 23, 2022
#3
Ben stokes in CSK
Cup toh pakka hai aab
— Priya (@Priyamahi00_7) December 23, 2022
#4
CSK buying Ben stokes 😍#BenStokes #iplauction2023 pic.twitter.com/jlfUDz3E90
— black cat (@Cat__offi) December 23, 2022
#5
Jadeja vs Ben Stokes
To Jadeja and Ben Stokes 🥲— Gaurav Agarwal (@7Gaurav8) December 23, 2022
#6
Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja together on the field for CSK will be elite to watch.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 24, 2022
#7
Angrez tab bhi loot ke gaye the, Angrez aaj bhi loot rahe hai
3 English players for Rs. ~50 cr!!#SamCurran #Brooks #BenStokes #IPLAuction
— Harsh Shah 🇮🇳 (@MrMrHarsh) December 23, 2022
#8
Ben stokes welcome to CSK 16.25 cr#BenStokes #IPL2023 #IPL2023Auction #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/Ul56qxN1Xy
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) December 23, 2022
#9
Ben stokes for csk💛😭 pic.twitter.com/2tneS5tDxC
— 𝙍𝙐𝘽𝘼𝙉 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙃 #𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚💛 (@Mr_movieholic) December 23, 2022
#10
Congratulations Ben Stokes on winning IPL 2023 with CSK.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) December 23, 2022
#11
https://twitter.com/RutuEra/status/1606231160190664704?
#12
https://twitter.com/cricfunmemes/status/1606240988749795328
#13
@rajasthanroyals every time during bidding
Facing same situation@ChennaiIPL #BenStokes#TATAIPLAuction @StarSportsIndia#IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/wKGBQrmNDC— Durbin 💜 (@Isolate21261459) December 23, 2022
#14
https://twitter.com/imAshutosh08/status/1606556788085895168
#15
@benstokes38 has been sold to @ChennaiIPL for 16.25 CR
Crazy Bidding😂😂
Best all-rounder in the world #GOAT𓃵 #IPLAuctions #IPLAuction #Stokes
— Imperial Cris (@SocialKick3) December 23, 2022
Earlier, Ben Stokes played under the captaincy of MS Dhoni when they both played for Rising Pune Supergiants and now they both are going to reunite while playing for CSK but the big question is whether Dhoni will groom Ben Stokes as future skipper of CSK or not. What is your opinion in this connection? Let us know your views.
