BREAKING NEWS: Mark Wood ruled out of IPL 2022

Indefinite break for Mark Wood

This news came as a huge blow to KL Rahul's led new franchise, Lucknow Super Giants. The franchise bought Mark Wood in the recently concluded mega auction for a whopping INR 7.5 crore as their lead bowler for the season. He will also miss the remainder of England’s tour to the West Indies. According to the reports, the player has taken an indefinite break to plan and work on his recovery.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement Wood "will return to the UK next week for a specialist opinion regarding the management of his injury" and "will have an indefinite break from cricket until more information is determined from the elbow specialist".

Unavailability of overseas players

Lucknow Super Giants already have Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera as the other overseas fast bowling option in their ranks, along with fast bowling all-rounders Jason Holder and Marcus Stoinis.

But Jason Holder and Marcus Stoinis both will be unavailable during the initial weeks of league as they are involved in Bilateral series against England and Pakistan respectively.

The West Indies series will end on 28th March, on which Lucknow Super Giants already have their first match against the Gujarat Titans whereas Australia’s tour to Pakistan will go on till the first week of April.

Who will replace Mark Wood?

With just a few days remaining for the biggest cricket carnival to start, the franchise is yet to announce the replacement for their lead bowler, Mark Wood. 

With all the unavailability of overseas players due to national commitments, it will be challenging for franchises to fill in the spot of pacer as per their plans. It will be interesting to see whether this will open up opportunities for any debutant or team to go with some experienced options available.