Picture Credit: Twitter/IPL
England players pulling out of IPL don't surprise anyone anymore. With the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) skeptic about sending its players to the Indian Premier League, many players have started skipping the tournament. However, franchises still bestow their trust in English players and sign them at the auctions. Mark Wood was also among the top English signings at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
The pacer was bought by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for a whopping 7.5 Crore. The LSG team management had high hopes from the pacer with his ability to extract something out of a dead pitch as well. But as it seems, it won't be possible. With the latest updates coming in, Mark Wood can also follow the footprints of countrymen Alex Hales and Jason Roy and miss the entire IPL 2022.
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Notably, Wood has suffered an injury while playing in the Caribbean. As per the latest reports, Wood is struggling with acute pain in his elbow making him unfit to bowl. A team spokesman confirmed that he had felt "acute pain" in his right elbow during an exploratory nets session on the final morning of the first Test in Antigua. Noticeably enough, Wood did not play a part in the first Test in Antigua after bowling five compromised overs on the third morning.
Some other reports have also suggested that it will take more than 15 days for the paceman to be able to bowl. Even though Wood gets fit enough to bowl, it is unlikely he will come in to the IPL. Wood's injury is somewhat similar to Jofra Archer's. Thus, both ECB and Wood will not think about risking it for an IPL contract.
No English players from here on?
If Wood decides to pull out of the IPL 2022, he will be the third English cricketer to do so, after Jason Roy and Alex Hales. While Wood has a fair enough reason to pull out, Roy and Hales cited bubble-fatigue as their reasons. In IPL 2021, a total of five English players had pulled out. This is not going well with the franchises and may even force them to not consider England players from here on.
Former India cricketer and analyst Aakash Chopra also raised the same concern. "English players pulling out from the IPL citing bubble-fatigue issues…..after making themselves available knowing fully well what they were signing up for…might make the IPL teams skeptical about looking in their direction in the future," tweeted Chopra.