Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler set to miss Ireland series

English players made merry at the IPL auctions yesterday. All-rounder Ben Stokes and pace bowler Tymal Mills grossed the highest and the second best on the day. While many saw this on the cards, some pondered why the franchises were willing to shell out so much for them. This comes to the fore since the availability of the English players was unknown.

England are scheduled to play an ODI series against England in early May and then play South Africa later in the same month. The international fixtures surely collide with the IPL dates. IPL concludes on May 21 with the finals scheduled to be played at Hyderabad. However, as per the recent reports in ESPNcricinfo, three of the top billed players are now slated to stay back for the entire league stage of the tournament.

Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler will miss the ODI series against Ireland and stay back with their franchises till the league stages. Stokes was signed for a whopping INR 14.5 crore deal with Rising Pune Supergiants yesterday.

This is a record pay for any overseas player in the history of the tournament. He will, however, miss the playoffs (in case his franchise makes it to the playoffs). His due date to be back for England’s preparatory camp is May 14. Woakes and Buttler also have the same dates to adhere to. Chris Woakes was also bagged for a handsome amount by the Kolkata Knight Riders. Jos Buttler was retained by the Mumbai Indians. The wicketkeeper-batsman was a key member of the Mumbai team in the previous edition of the tournament.

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While these three players are available for full six weeks, there are a couple of English players who will stay back for the entire tournament, including the playoffs. Tymal Mills, who was acquired for INR 12.5 crores by Royal Challengers Bangalore, will be available for the entire tournament since he does not play any other form of the game apart from T20s due to a congenital back problem. Allrounder Chris Jordan is also available for the entire duration of the tournament.

English skipper Eoin Morgan, and batsmen Jason Roy and Sam Billings will have to leave earlier, though. They are expected to be available for the Ireland series that starts on May 5. Morgan was bought by the Kings XI Punjab and Roy was capped in the second round by the Gujarat Lions. Billings was retained by the Delhi Daredevils. All these three players will have to return by May 1.

Due dates:

May 1: Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Eoin Morgan

May 14: Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes

Available for entire tournament: Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills