Monday 5 February 2018 10:02, UK
Rajasthan Royals have picked up an "absolute bargain" by signing England's Jos Buttler for under £490k in the Indian Premier League auction, says Nasser Hussain.
Stokes, charged with affray after an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September, will appear before Bristol Magistrates' Court on February 13 but his legal team remain confident the all-rounder will be available for the duration of the tournament, which begins on April 7 - live on Sky Sports Cricket.
But it was Buttler's purchase price that particularly caught Hussain's eye.
"I think the best bid, in terms of getting your money's worth, is Jos Buttler because I think he is the most exciting white-ball finisher - as we saw in the third ODI against Australia," said the former England captain.
"This lad can do absolutely anything, from any situation. Some people might not think $687,000 is a good deal but compared to some in the auction, I think Rajasthan have got an absolute bargain.
"Last year we saw the clash between Stokes and Buttler - but the Rajasthan Royals have gone for both of them."
India skipper Virat Kohli, retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore, is the most expensive player in this year's IPL at £1.9m, but both Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma secured impressive bids of £1.65m and will play for Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians respectively. Stokes is the sixth-most expensive player.
"There will have been a little bit of debate around whether it's worth taking the risk with Ben Stokes but he's still the sixth-most expensive player on the auction list," said Hussain.
"Rajasthan Royals have taken the risk because he was the Most Valuable Player in last year's competition and a three-dimensional cricketer.
"I watched Rishabh Pant have a net the last time I was in India and, boy, does he hit the ball hard. Rohit Sharma led the Mumbai Indians to victory last time. They are all seriously good cricketers."
The list of players currently unsold in the auction, which continues on Sunday, includes West Indian master-blaster Chris Gayle as well as England Test captain Joe Root and his team-mate, Jonny Bairstow.
"Gayle unsold does surprise me," admitted Hussain, "he's the best T20 batsmen of all time. He hits more sixes than anyone else. If one of the sides can get him relatively cheaply tomorrow then he can still win them games off his own bat.
"Root is a fabulous player but he doesn't do it in the dynamic way of a Gayle or an AB de Villiers, so it will be interesting to see what happens overnight.
"It will be fantastic if Root can play IPL; I have no problem with him being rested for some England T20s as long as he's playing in the IPL."
Each and every one of this season's 60 IPL games will be screened on Sky Sports Cricket in the wake of a new multi-year broadcast deal, announced on Saturday morning.
Hussain said he cannot wait for the competition to begin, on April 7, because it pits the world's most potent players against each other.
"It's the best competition because it has the best players; the best of the best," he said. "Sometimes in domestic T20 competitions around the world it's more about who is not there.
"But because of the money involved the IPL attracts the best cricketers at the top of their game and they are there virtually throughout the tournament.
"The heartbeat of world cricket is India; you only have to turn up to an IPL game and see the audience. They make a real spectacle of it. Every single game out there is an absolute event.
"There are millionaires involved but the IPL also makes millionaires. Overnight Jofra Archer has gone for $1.1m and Rashid Khan, a 19-year-old leg-spinner from Afghanistan, has gone for $1.4m. Those are the 'boys from nowhere' stories you get from the IPL."
Watch every game of the 2018 Indian Premier League live on Sky Sports Cricket.
