Ben Stokes is set to miss the later stages of IPL 2023 in order to prepare for the Ashes

Ben Stokes will not let the Indian Premier League interfere with his England leadership, claiming he would lead the team in the opening Test of the Ashes series. Stokes pulled out of the 2022 IPL auction to focus on his leadership position, but he returned to the auction in December and secured a lucrative 16.5 crore deal with Chennai Super Kings. The group rounds of the world’s largest T20 event will continue until May 28, with the eliminator match and final to follow. England will play Ireland at Lord’s from June 1 in their penultimate encounter before the highly anticipated series against Australia.

The likelihood of a conflict in Stokes’ calendar is obvious, but he has stated that he will be wearing England whites rather than CSK yellow when the time comes. Pat Cummins, Australia’s Test and ODI captain, said in November that he would miss the whole IPL this year because of a gruelling Test tour of India, an Ashes tour, and an ODI World Cup. Several of Australia’s top players will participate in the IPL, including David Warner, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Cameron Green, and Marcus Stoinis, who are all expected to stay in India following Australia’s ODI series there next month.

Read more: ‘Bazball’: What is the England Test team’s new weapon? 

Less clarity on other England players

Stokes is said to have already agreed on a departure date with his IPL side and will return in time to fully participate in England’s preparations for their first international of the season. When asked if he would be on duty at the home of cricket if a position in the IPL final became available, he left no room for doubt “Yes, I’ll play,” he said. “I’ll be making sure that I give myself enough time to get back and play that game (against Ireland).” Green, a critical component in Australia’s middle order whose absence was felt in the first two Tests in India, will spend his debut year in the IPL after signing a 17.5 crore contract with the Mumbai Indians in the December auction.

Nevertheless, the situation is less clear when it comes to other England players. Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Harry Brook all have IPL contracts and are expected to play important roles as England seeks to reclaim the urn for the first time since 2015. “I think it’s a little bit too far ahead to say for others, but one thing I’ve got to look at is we’ve got the Ashes after the Ireland Test, so I’ll probably get round the individuals and ask them what they want to be ready for the Ashes,” said Stokes. Those five games are obviously the big ones of the summer and you’ve got to think about what lads want, but you also have to think about if something was to happen in that game and we lose someone for the Ashes. It’s just one of those where you have to weigh up the options of what the individual person actually wants out of that week versus do we really need to play that one. Because I’m obviously right in saying that series is bigger than that game against Ireland.”