Ben Stokes, IPL 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba
IANS

There is always an additional pressure when players are bought for big money in any franchise sport, especially the popular leagues such as the Premier League (football) and Indian Premier League (cricket).

Sometimes, the pressure gets too much on the player, and leads to his downfall as is being witnessed with Manchester United's Paul Pogba. The Frenchman became the world's most expensive player in the world when the Red Devils splashed 111 million USD  to sign him from Juventus. Pogba has not been able to justify his price tag so far for United.

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There have been numerous times when the player has been trolled on Twitter for his poor performances after being bought for ridiculous money. Though he is in his first season with United, Pogba has not been too influential, and needs to shine in future seasons to justify the pounds, which United threw at him.

However, there are other players in football history bought for mega money, and helped the club with their skills on the field. Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo is one such player, who comes to our mind as the Portugal star was bought by the Spanish giants for 99 million USD. Ronaldo has gone on to become one of the greatest players to have ever graced the sport, scoring 390 goals, and also won the FIFA Player of the year in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Now, it remains to be seen if England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for a huge sum of 2.2 million USD during the IPL auction in February, will follow in the footsteps of Pogba or Ronaldo.

One cannot predict as to how will Stokes perform, but it would be a huge disappointment for RPS if their big star will flop in his IPL debut season. Stokes has been a huge success in all forms of the game for England. 

Stokes is one of the quality all-rounders in the game, and RPS have thrown such huge money, hoping that the player will shine to take them all the way in IPL 2017. The Indian Premier League comprises the best of the best in the business and he will surely be have to be on top of his toes to steer RPS towards the IPL 2017 crown. 

Who knows, if the player can become one of the best IPL players or someone like Pogba. Time will tell as Stokes is set to make his IPL debut against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.