Ben Stokes to get go-ahead for IPL 2018

Former English vice-captain Ben Stokes might be given approval by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to put his name into the next month's Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

According to The Guardian, Stokes was IPL's highest-paid overseas player, securing a 1.7m-pound-deal at Pune in 2017 and also went on to win the season's most valuable player award.

The 26-year-old all-rounder was recently also given a no-objection certificate (NOC) by ECB allowing him to play for Canterbury in New Zealand, which ended on Saturday, after which Stokes opted to return to England for Christmas.

Stokes is now likely to see the ECB grant him the necessary NOC for the IPL as well.

"That is for Ben to decide. Having given an NOC for New Zealand, it will be difficult for us to say on balance we would not apply the same thinking to other parts of the world," said ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, on Ben entering the IPL auction.

Earlier in October, Stokes was withdrawn from the Ashes squad by the ECB in the wake of a pending investigation into an incident that had led to his arrest in Bristol in September.

English cricketer Alex Hales was with Stokes at that time.

The pair was suspended indefinitely by the ECB pending the outcome of a police investigation on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.