Sunrisers Hyderabad assistant coach Simon Helmot believes Indian Premier League sides will carefully consider signing Ben Stokes again this season.

In his debut campaign last year, the Cumbrian became the IPL’s most expensive foreign player when Rising Pune Supergiant bought him for £1.7m.

The 26-year-old made a big impact at the tournament as he helped Pune Supergiant reach the final and was named the season’s most valuable player.

Ahead of the auction which will take place over the course of this weekend ahead of this year’s edition of the IPL, Stokes is among the 578 players up for grabs, having been cleared to play by the England and Wales Cricket Board despite his recent England suspension.

Stokes had recently been cleared to play for England following his charge for affray after a nightclub brawl in Bristol in September. But, with the Cockermouth man due in court on February 13, this week he confirmed he would be delaying his return with the national side.

While Australian Helmot didn’t comment on whether the Sunrisers would look to recruit Stokes, he acknowledged uncertainty surrounding the all-rounder presented challenges.

“I think in relation to the IPL, teams and owners are always having to consider player availability,” Helmot told FairFax Media , where he is head coach at the country's high performance academy.

“Over the last 10 years, teams have been really careful on who they select because they may have a person who needs to go off and play international cricket somewhere else.

“I suppose, in this particular case, in Ben’s case, people are uncertain of what that all looks like.

"So, [they] will probably want to gather as much information and knowledge to know what his availability is, and what the circumstances are.”