England’s Ben Stokes lands extraordinary Indian Premier League payday of US$2.16 million
The all-rounder sets a new record for a foreigner on joining the Rising Pune Supergiants, while countryman Tymal Mills also cashes in
England players attracted megabucks bids in the Indian Premier League auction on Monday, with all-rounder Ben Stokes setting a new record for a foreigner by joining the Rising Pune Supergiants for more than US$2 million.
England pace bowler Tymal Mills was the big surprise as he went to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for US$1.8m, even though he has only played four Twenty20 internationals.
The winning bids for Stokes and Mills dwarfed the US$300,000 shelled out by the Kings XI Punjab to secure the services of England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan for the T20 tournament, which begins in April.
Stokes attracted multiple bids from the rival franchises competing in the eight-team tournament before the gavel finally came down after Pune put in a bid of 145 million rupees (around US$2.16m).
The winning bid shattered the previous record paid for a foreign player, which was set in 2014 when the Delhi Daredevils shelled out 90 million rupees for former England captain Kevin Pietersen.
But it is still short of the 160 million rupees that the Royal Challengers Bangalore paid for the Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh in 2015.