Massive setback for Lucknow ahead of Indian T20 League, star pacer ruled out due to injury
Stadium (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
England pacer Mark Wood has been ruled out of the 15th season of the Indian T20 League. Wood was signed by Lucknow for INR 7.5 crores during the mega auction. The right-arm pacer had sustained an elbow injury during the first Test against the West Indies. He bowled 17 overs in the game before going off the field and didn’t return to bowl in the second innings.
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has informed the franchise about the development. It will be interesting to see when the franchise opts for a replacement. It could be presumed that the team will opt for a replacement as there are a little more than seven days left for the start of the cash-rich league.
Also, not to forget, the team hasn’t been able to assemble a full-strength squad of 25 members, a number achieved by Chennai, Kolkata, Punjab, and Mumbai. Lucknow has only 20 players at their disposal after Wood’s injury. The other pace bowling options in the team are Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, Dushmanta Chameera, and Mohsin Khan.
Wood is the third English cricketer to miss out on the ITL 2022. Opening batters, Jason Roy and Alex Hales had also pulled out of the league citing bio-bubble fatigues. Roy was supposed to play for Gujarat while Hales would have represented Kolkata.
These players have been replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Aaron Finch respectively. Jofra Archer is another pacer from England to miss out on the league this year.
Notably, Archer had already told the ITL that he is unavailable this year. Still, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Rajasthan were interested in the services of the Barbados-born player. Mumbai eventually bought him for 8 crores.
