Star England fast bowler Mark Wood, one of the most sought-after players, has pulled out of IPL 2021 just hours before the auction. Wood, who registered himself in the ₹2 crore category was one of the 292 shortlisted players to go under the hammer on February 18 in Chennai.
The decision comes amid the huge controversy England management has landed in for their rotation policy. A number of cricketers have been rotated in the last two Test while Moeen Ali has been sent home after the second Test.
As per a report in Sportstar, the reason behind Wood’s decision to pull out of the league at the last minute lack of family time. With the English pacer now a part of the series against India, he could be in the country for months if one of the 8 franchises picks him up at the auction.
Mark Wood pulls out of IPL 2021
With Wood wanting to spend more time with his family, he decided to opt-out of the auction event and not extend his stay beyond the international assignment he has come in for.
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So far, Mark Wood has represented England in 18 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 11 T20Is so far and had only joined the squad after the 2nd Test. When it comes to the Indian Premier League, Wood has played only one match in the T20 league so far and it came for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
After Mark Wood’s withdrawal, a total of 14 England’s will now go under the hammer during IPL 2021 auction. On the other hand, 8 English players were retained by IPL franchises from the last season.
As of now, 291 players will go in the auction of which 164 will be Indians and 124 will overseas players while three players will be from Associate nations after Wood pulled out in the 11th hour.
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