England player David Willey during a practice session. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
England bowler David Willey is set to miss the start of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to personal reasons, as ESPNcricinfo reported.
The English left-arm seamer was signed by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at his base price of Rs 2 crore in last year December’s auction in Dubai.
LSG’s new head coach Justin Langer in a media interaction on Wednesday revealed that Willey would not be in attendance at the start of the edition.
“With Mark Wood pulling out of the tournament and also David Willey won’t be coming now either, that means we lack some experience. But what I’ve also seen in the last couple of days is that we have enormous talent. Some of our guys have had some injuries but they all look very fit at the moment,” Langer said when asked about LSG’s pace attack as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Willey is the second Englishman to be unavailable for the start of LSG’s season after Mark Wood was pulled out by the ECB for the whole season to control his workload ahead of the T20 World Cup. Wood has been replaced by Shamar Joseph, a West Indies fast bowler, while Willey is yet to be replaced.
“They look fit and healthy and they’re very hungry, so we’ll just have to manage them well so that we can get them through and work through the whole tournament, not just the start of the tournament. We’ve got one overseas player up our sleeve if required, where we might be able to add some experience,” he added.
Langer also mentioned Mayank Yadav, a 21-year-old Delhi seamer, as a true fast bowler who may add some speed in Wood’s absence.
“Mark Wood is a world-class bowler, isn’t he? And he pulled out after the auction, which is disappointing but this is the world we live in,” Langer said.
Last month Caribbean speedster Shamar Joseph replaced English pacer Wood in LSG’s squad for the upcoming season. Joseph capped off his remarkable month by clinching ICC Men’s Player of the Month for January 2024 after making a sensational debut for the Windies in their dramatic Test series in Australia.
“We also have Shamar Joseph, we have Mayank who bowls with very good pace. Hopefully we can replace, not [Wood’s] experience, but his pace with Shamar Joseph and Mayank. He’ll be missed – of course he’ll be missed, he’s a world-class bowler – but this is the world we live in and we will adapt and we will be OK,” he added.
LSG will open their IPL 2024 campaign against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.