Ben Stokes signed for £1.4m by Rajasthan Royals in 2018 IPL

Ben Stokes was signed for £1.4m in this year’s Indian Premier League auction by the Rajasthan Royals.

The England all-rounder has been charged with affray following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September and will appear before Bristol Magistrates’ Court on February 13.

The IPL will allow the Royals to seek a replacement for Stokes, the 2017 tournament’s most valuable player, should he be unavailable for the duration of the tournament but if he misses only part of the competition no replacement will be sanctioned.

Rajasthan’s chief executive Ranjit Barthakur took to Facebook to welcome the England all-rounder, saying: “Ben Stokes is just our kind of guy. (He is) a fantastic performer, a cricketer of today and a cricketer of the future.”

Jos Buttler, who hit his first ODI century against Australia to seal a series victory for England earlier this month, will join Stokes at the Royals after being acquired for just under £490,000.

England Test captain Joe Root, who entered the auction for the first time after being rested from the upcoming tri-series in Australia and New Zealand, and wicketkeepers Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings all went unsold in the first round of bidding.

Elsewhere, all-rounder Chris Woakes (£821,500) and Moeen Ali (£188,700) were obtained by Royal Challengers Bangalore while white-ball opener Jason Roy was obtained by Delhi Daredevils for £166,500.

Sussex bowler Jofra Archer, who has been making headlines in Australia’s Big Bash League and will become eligible to play for England in 2022, will be alongside Stokes and Buttler after becoming a million dollar buy as the Royals splashed out $1.125m (£793,200).

Sky Sports has signed a new multi-year deal to broadcast 60 live IPL matches each year and this year’s tournament gets underway on April 7.

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, 19, was bought for just under £1m by Sunrisers Hyderabad after they used the right to match card following a bidding war between Delhi, RCB and Kings XI Punjab.

Indian batsmen Manish Pandey (Sunrisers) and Lokesh Rahul (KXIP) were bought for £1.2m while Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders for £1.04m

Chris Gayle was among some of the other big names to miss out on a deal as well as New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi, who is the No 1 ranked T20I bowler in the world, fellow countryman Martin Guptill, India’s Murali Vijay and Australian seamers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Johnson.

Stokes, who will play alongside Australia captain Steve Smith at the Royals, became the most expensive overseas buy in IPL history last year when he was signed for £1.6m by Rising Pune Supergiant in his maiden outing in the tournament.

The 26-year-old scored 316 runs, including a memorable unbeaten century in his first game, and took 12 wickets in 12 matches to help Supergiant to the final but was unable to play in the showpiece event as he returned to England duty and Mumbai Indians claimed their third IPL title.

The Durham all-rounder, who was cleared to play for England in their upcoming T20 series in New Zealand by the ECB, will wait to join up with the national side until after his initial court hearing.

(c) Sky News 2018: Ben Stokes signed for £1.4m by Rajasthan Royals in 2018 IPL