In a huge injury blow to Mumbai Indians, the star pacer Jason Behrendorff has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2024 on Monday, March 18. The franchise has named English speedster Luke Wood as his replacement.
Behrendorff, the 33-year-old left-arm pacer, was the leading pacer for Mumbai in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer in IPL 2024. He took 14 wickets in 12 innings last edition, the joint-most by any pacer for MI and was expected to partner Bumrah and Coetzee in a three-man pace attack in the 2024 season.
Luke Wood has featured in just five T20I games for the Three Lions but boasts impressive numbers in the domestic and T20 franchise cricket leagues.
The 28-year-old left-arm pacer featured for Peshawar Zalmi in the ongoing Pakistan Super League 2024 where he took the highest 12 wickets in 11 innings for Babar Azam-led franchise.
"Mumbai Indians (MI) name Luke Wood as a replacement for the injured Jason Behrendorff for the upcoming TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024," IPL statement said. "Wood, a left-arm pacer, has played 5 T20Is for England, in addition to 2 ODIs, and has 8 T20I wickets against his name. Wood will join MI for INR 50 Lac."
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Dilshan Madushanka also suffered a left hamstring injury during the team's second ODI game against Bangladesh on March 15 and is ruled out of the initial IPL 2024 matches for Mumbai. Another pace signing Gerald Coetzee also remains doubtful for the opening few games who is recovering from a pelvic inflammation.
Mumbai Indians' updated squad for IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Dewald Brevis, Tim David, Tilak Varma, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Vishnu Vinod, Piyush Chawla, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Anshul Kamboj, Naman Dhir, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Luke Wood.
