![](https://sportsamaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220122_133719-780x470-optimized.jpg)
Ben Stokes, one of the overseas superstars to have partcipated in the last 4 seasons of the IPL, has decided to stay away from the IPL mega auction this year and so has his England captain Joe Root. However, Joe Root has never been able to earn an IPL contract anyway and the only time he tried his name in the auction back in 2018, he went unsold.
The reason why Stokes and Root have decided to stay away from the IPL this year is because the England players and the England Cricket Board (ECB) have been severely criticized for prefering IPL over test cricket in the last few years and it has been cited as one of the reasons for the downfall of England’s red ball cricket by many pundits.
Although England’s white ball captain Eoin Morgan has already called the criticism laughable and insisted that the England cricketers participating in the franchise leagues has nothing to do wth England’s downfall in test cricket, Stokes and Root have still decided to lead the way for the other England players to give test cricket more preference.
They are the two seniormost players in the England’s test match set-up and it’s very much possible that Stokes might be appointed the new England test captain as well, although Joe Root has made it clear that he still wants to lead England in the longest format of the game going ahead.
Sam Curran has also decided to stay away from IPL mega auction
Apart from Stokes and Root, Sam Curran and Jofra Archer are the other two England cricketer who have decided to stay away from the IPL, but with them the reason is more related to fitness than anything else. ECB has already released a statement that Jofra is not going to be match fit until the start of next England summer and Sam Curran has also recovered from a stress fracture only recently and is going through a rehabilitation programme.
Although Curran was not one of the players who were retained by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the IPL mega auction, the franchise was still likely to bid for him and was looking to secure his services in the auction again. Apart from CSK, Curran was believed to be on the radar of a few other franchises as well because of his allround abilities, however it isn’t going to be the case anymore.