England all-rounder Chris Woakes has ruled himself out of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. He wishes to rest ahead of a busy summer with the national Test team.
The 31-year-old was due to play for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020. Ricky Ponting's side were the only team to bid for Woakes in December's auction, securing his services for 150 lakh.
Woakes' Previous IPL Experience
Woakes has played in the IPL before, having represented Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017 and Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018. He was never a regular in the T20 arena though, specialising in the longer forms of the game, including 100 ODIs. The Warwickshire player has taken 238 international wickets and scored over 2,000 runs for the national side in his career.
A Hectic Test Summer For England
England's Test schedule is a pretty busy one over the coming months. The team are already in Sri Lanka ahead of two matches which come to a close after the IPL campaign has begun. The summer then brings back-to-back Test series against West Indies and Pakistan. Those six Tests get underway on June 4th and run until 24th August.
England's Upcoming Test Matches
- In Sri Lanka – 2 Tests (March 19th – March 31st)
- Hosting West Indies – 3 Tests (June 4th – June 29th)
- Hosting Pakistan – 3 Tests (July 30th – August 24th)
Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, and Jos Buttler also have IPL contracts and are in England's Test squad for the upcoming series in Sri Lanka. They're due to arrive in India a few days before the start of the tournament.
Delhi Capitals 2020 Squad
| Shreyas Iyer | Shimron Hetmyer |
| Shikhar Dhawan | Mohit Sharma |
| Prithvi Shaw | Tushar Deshpande |
| Ishant Sharma | Marcus Stoinis |
| Axar Patel | Lalit Yadav |
| Amit Mishra | Avesh Khan |
| Kagiso Rabada | Ajinkya Rahane |
| Keemo Paul | Ravichandran Ashwin |
| Sandeep Lamichhane | Harshal Patel |
| Jason Roy | Alex Carey |
| Robin Uthappa | Woakes Replacement TBC |
Delhi's overseas options now look significantly depleted with Woakes ruling himself out and Kagiso Rabada nursing a groin injury. The South African pacer missed the ODI series against Australia and India with the problem and isn't guaranteed to be ready for the start of the new season. The franchise are likely to seek an overseas replacement for Woakes ahead of the competition getting underway on April 15th.
