BEN STOKES (RR)

Ben Stokes was the costliest player in the IPL 2018 with Rajasthan Royals buying him for INR 12.5 cr. This much money was paid for Stokes, after his exploits for the Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2017, where he cracked a century en route to making 316 runs in 12 matches and picking 12 wickets, helping the team reach the finals.

However, his performances for Rajasthan Royals was below par as he made 196 runs in 13 matches and picked just 8 wickets. He also failed to make any fifties for the team, which lost in the eliminator to KKR sans Stokes, who flew back to England for international duty.

It was expected that RR might release him in the auction and use the RTM card to buy him back for a lesser price. This was supported by the fact that the England Cricket Board had confirmed that their 2019 World Cup hopefuls will not be available past May 1 in the T20 tournament.

However, instead of risking losing Stokes to some other franchise, RR has decided to retain him for the same amount and will hope that he will come out with some incredible performances to help his team despite playing in the first half of the tournament only.