England’s Joe Root follows Ben Stokes in skipping IPL 2024

NEW DELHI (Agencies): Joe Root has opted out of next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), his franchise said, following his England team mate Ben Stokes, who made himself unavailable for the T20 league, citing workload. Root played just three matches for Rajasthan Royals in his IPL debut this year, and Rob Key, managing director of England’s men’s cricket had said the 32-year-old “needs a break” after the 50-overs World Cup in India. “During our retention conversations, Joe informed us of his decision to not take part in IPL 2024,” Kumar Sangakkara, Rajasthan’s director of cricket said in a statement on Saturday. “Even in a short span of time, Joe was able to create such a positive impact on the franchise and the players around him. “His energy around the group and the experience he brought to the Royals will be missed. We respect his decision totally and wish him success in everything he does.” The franchise thanked Root for guiding the likes of Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal at Rajasthan. Australia’s World Cup winning captain Pat Cummins and his bowling colleague Mitchell Starc have decided to return to IPL and will be part of the Dec. 19 player auction in Dubai.