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Ahead of IPL 2022, a few teams have been forced to switch to Plan B because of unavailability of some players. While Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Aaron Finch as replacement of Alex Hales, Gujarat Titans have roped in Rahmanullah Gurbaz in place of Jason Roy. Now, all eyes are on Lucknow Super Giants who are looking for a replacement of their INR 7.50 Crore signing Mark Wood after he was ruled out of IPL 2022 due to an elbow injury.
Some of the names doing rounds have been Sheldon Cottrell, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye but it was recently revealed that the franchise was interested to secure the services of Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed.
Will Taskin Ahmed replace Mark Wood?
As reported by a Bangladesh website Kaler Kanth, Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir made a phone call on March 20 evening and notably revealed the plans to get him on board for IPL 2022. "I want Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed in the team (Lucknow Super Giants) and that is for the whole season. If he agrees to the offer, Taskin will have to leave for India before the next two Tests against South Africa," Gambhir stated.
The right-arm pacer is part of the 2-match Test series which is scheduled to take place from March 31 to April 12. This proposal by Lucknow Super Giants put the player in spot of dilemma which is why Taskin reportedly asked for some time to discuss the same with team management and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
Lucknow Super Giants' squad for IPL 2022: KL Rahul (captain), Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajput, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, Kyle Mayers and [replacement of Mark Wood which is yet to be officially announced].
No NOC for Taskin Ahmed
Unfortunately, the latest developments suggest that BCB have not given No-Objection Certificate to Taskin Ahmed and he is set to feature for his national side in the upcoming Test series.
''Since we have two important series like the ongoing home tour of South Africa and the home series against India, we feel it won't be right for him to take part in the IPL,'' BCB cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus told reporters as quoted by Cricbuzz.
''We have spoken with Taskin and he has understood the whole situation. He informed the franchise that he is not playing the IPL and will be available for the South Africa tour and later will return back home," he added.