Who is MI's new recruit Luke Wood? Decoding his profile
Mumbai Indians have roped in England left-arm pacer Luke Wood as a replacement for the injured Jason Behrendorff for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). Wood has been signed for his base price of Rs. 50 lakh. This will be his maiden IPL stint in the IPL. He, however, has the experience of featuring in several T20 leagues. Here we decode his profile.
Behrendorff ruled out of IPL
Behrendorff, who claimed 14 wickets from 12 games last season, broke his leg in a freak accident while training in Perth last week. The same hence has ruled him out of the 2024 IPL, which gets underway on March 2022. Wood is a like-for-like replacement for Behrendorff as he can also swing the new ball besides operating in the death overs.
Who is Luke Wood?
Wood is a 28-year-old left-arm fast bowler who has represented Lancashire and Nottinghamshire in the English domestic circuit. Across 140 T20 matches, he has claimed 147 wickets at an economy of 8.45. The tally includes eight wickets in five T20Is for England (ER: 9.66). Besides, he has claimed 137 First-Class wickets at 35.40. He has just five scalps in the List A format.
Campaign in PSL 2024
Under Babar Azam's captaincy, Wood played for Peshawar Zalmi in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024. With 12 wickets across 11 games at 29.08, he finished as his side's highest wicket-taker in the tournament (ER: 8.24). Besides PSL, he has featured in the Big Bash League (BBL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Injury concerns in MI's fast bowling department
While Behrendorff has been ruled out, left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka is likely to miss the first few matches due to a hamstring injury. Gerald Coetzee is another MI pacer who continues to recover from an injury (groin). Jasprit Bumrah, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Akash Madhwal, Arjun Tendulkar, and Hardik Pandya are the available pace-bowling options in the MI camp for the initial games.