IPL: Rajasthan's ROI on Ben Stokes against Hyderabad was Rs 1,785,714 per ball
Ben Stokes (RPS, RR) -- IPL 2017, 2018
All eyes were on England's all-rounder Ben Stokes who was at the centre of IPL auctions for Rajasthan.
Rajasthan marked a return to the IPL after serving a two-year ban but failed to light up the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League as they lost the openingmatch against Hyderabad.
In an eagerly awaited encounter, team Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bowl first.The Hyderabad bowlers ran through the Rajasthan batting line-up as thebatters failed miserably. They failed as a bowling unit too.
All eyes were on England's all-rounder Ben Stokes who was at thecentreof IPL auctions forRajasthan. The team which won the inauguralIPL in2008 hadpurchased 'Big Ben' for a whopping $12.5 croreduring the auctions, making him the "most expensive player"of the ongoing tournament.
Ben's Rs 12.5 crore feefor the tournament means he earns approximately Rs. 8,928,571.42 lakhs per match as every team will play a minimum of fourteen matches. Hence, Ben Stokes' knock cost Rajasthan a sum of Rs. 1,785,714.28 lakhs per ball as he scored just five runs off eight deliveries against Hyderabad.
Strokes'run-per-rupee for Rajasthan is around Rs. 17.5 lakhs per ball, a rather expensive deal for Rajasthan.
Before entering the auctions, Rajasthan had retained Steve Smith for an amount of Rs 12.5 crore but due to his involvement in the recent ball-tampering scandal the ex-Australian captainwas ruled out from IPL 2018.
Rajasthan will play against Delhi in its next clash which is on Wednesday, the spotlight will be on Ben Stokes again as team Rajasthan will look for a better Return On Investment(ROI) on every rupee spent on the Englandall-rounder.