Woakes ditches IPL

English all-rounder Chris Woakes won’t be coming to UAE for the 2nd phase of the IPL season.

Woakes, who had joined Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020 auction, played in the India leg of the season.

This is the 2nd time in 2 years that Woakes has withdrawn from the league.

The England all-rounder skipped IPL 2020 and has now decided against taking part in the 2nd phase of IPL 2021.

He has been named in England’s T20 World Cup squad and was expected to play IPL before the ICC event.

Woakes, who has been part of IPL since 2017, has 78 runs and 30 wickets in the T20 league.

Apart from Delhi, he has been part of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Delhi might rope in a replacement for Woakes. 

Last year, they had roped in pacer Anrich Nortje to replace Woakes. The signing was successful as Nortje scalped 22 wickets in 16 matches.

Woakes has joined Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan on the list of players who have withdrawn from IPL 2021 today.

Bairstow has been an integral part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad setup and had played all seven games in the first half, scoring 248 runs at 41.33. 

Bairstow’s absence means David Warner, who lost his captaincy to Kane Williamson and was left out of the SRH playing XI might find a place in the team again.

While Bairstow will be on a small break, Malan will be playing for Yorkshire in the County Championship fixture against Warwickshire, which kicks off tomorrow.

Punjab Kings have replaced him with Aiden Markram.

These developments mean that 10 England players will feature in the IPL – Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, George Garton, Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy.