The Rising Pune Supergiants made a statement of intent in the 2017 IPL auctions as they made the marquee signing of England all-rounder Ben Stokes. The Pune-based franchise had a disappointing campaign in 2016 and with the signing of Stokes, they will be hoping for a turnaround in their fortunes.
Twitter erupted as the name of Ben Stokes taken by Richard Madley incited a bidding war.
Here are some of the best reactions:
Ben stokes economy rate as bowler in T20Is is 9.03. Hope he doesn’t turn out to be an illusory allrounder for RPS.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 20, 2017
Ben stokes 14.5 crores , now he can make his own #PSL league ?? #IPLAuction
— Amar Sangolagi(??R)™ (@the_amar13) February 20, 2017
Just for the fans of @BBL and @thePSLt20 to understand Ben Stokes price of $2.8 mill. His salary is twice the salary cap of each League! ?
— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) February 20, 2017
Ben stokes right now ? #IPLAuction #IPL10 #RPS pic.twitter.com/p9MA1jMxsq
— Pratyush (@pratyush_reddy) February 20, 2017
Ben Stokes to RPSG for 14.5 crores INR. #IPLAuction
This is more than the tournament budget of PSL and BPL combined 😛
— Vignesh (@MadridistaSays) February 20, 2017
Ben Stokes can start his own IPL franchise and buy all the unsold players.#IPLAuction
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) February 20, 2017
Ben Stokes right now… pic.twitter.com/UTVRdwZdPa
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) February 20, 2017
Ben Stokes
Batting Avg – 15.
Bowling strike rate – 9+
Tough times ahead for RPS…#IPLAuction— R A J E E V (@AkkiYuvi_4ever) February 20, 2017
Insane, from Twitter!”