England bowler David Willey will miss at least the start of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was picked by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the auction for his base price of INR 2 crore. But the left-arm pacer will not join the team for now due to personal reasons. For the unversed, LSG have already been hit with Mark Wood pulling out of the entire season as they signed Shamar Joseph as his replacement.
However, the franchise has not yet named any replacement for Willey which means that the cricketer might travel back to India to fulfill his committment. The cricketer was on the road the last couple of months playing for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in ILT20 and then turned up for Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) that concluded on Monday (March 18).
Willey was part of the final which the Sultans lost and returned to the UK soon after. LSG head coach Justin Langer confirmed the development as well voicing his concern over lack of experience in the pace bowling department. "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.
"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," Langer said. Interestingly, Langer also singled out a 21-year-old Delhi seamer Mayank Yadav for having similar pace to Mark Wood.
"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. 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 are scheduled to play their opening match of IPL 2024 in Jaipur against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday (March 24).
