Chennai Super Kings paid a whopping sum of Rs 16.25 crore to buy star England all-rounder Ben Stokes in the bidding war at the IPL auction 2023 on Friday. With CSK's bid, Ben Stokes equalled the mark of Chris Morris and became the joint third-costliest player in the history of IPL auction. Meanwhile, Stokes surpassed Deepak Chahar to become CSK's most-expensive buy in an IPL auction. Teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants were also vying for the player but it was CSK, who eventually bagged the star England all-rounder.
After the side bought Ben Stokes, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed that Dhoni was "very happy" with the deal.
"Very excited to get (Ben) Stokes and we were lucky also because he came up at the end. We wanted an all-rounder and MS (Dhoni) was very happy that we got Stokes," Kasi Viswanathan was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
"Captaincy option is there but it's a call MS will take with time. Kyle Jamieson was injured so maybe many others didn't look at him. We had information from Fleming that he had recovered and was raring to go.
"CSK looks bright and I hope we do well this season. We follow the process always and that will help us do well."
The 2023 IPL auction saw record-breaking bids taking place. England all-rounder Sam Curran became the costliest player to be sold in an IPL auction. He was signed by Punjab Kings for a whopping sum for Rs 18.50 crore.
The star player surpassed Chris Morris, who held the record earlier after being bought by Rajasthan Royals for 16.25 crore in 2020. However, that was not the end as Cameron Green also went past Morris after fetching a huge sum of Rs 17.50 from Mumbai Indians at the auction on Friday.