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England pacer Mark Wood has claimed that an Indian Premier League (IPL) team owner called and told him to come and play despite him being not able to stand properly. Wood did not specify the year or the IPL team but revealed that the owner told him that he is sending a private plane to get him to India. While the pacer was excited about the opportunity to get on a private plane, he wasn’t well and decided to stay back home.
Wood narrated the story in a podcast
“I’ll give you a story which wasn’t fun. I wasn’t very well. After about five games, I’d picked up an illness there, and the next game was about three days’ time.
So every half an hour, the doctor who had stayed back would come to my room, take my vitals, and try to get me right.
I remember one day, the IPL team owner was ringing me and he was like, ‘How are we feeling? Are we ready to go?’
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I was like, ‘Honestly, I’ve ate and drank nothing. I can’t get out of bed still. I’m hoping that, you know, if I can think’
And he was like, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll get another doctor. We’ll give you this, we’ll do that, we’ll do that.’
So I’ve got these three doctors in my room, giving me tablets, trying to help me.
Next day, he’s like, ‘How are we feeling? What’s the update again? How are you feeling?’
I was like, ‘Honestly, I’m still not good. I haven’t had anything.’
And he was like, ‘But I’ll tell you what, I will send a private plane. You get on the plane, play the game, I’ll get the plane straight back out, and you can get back to your bedside.’
So I rang my dad and I was like, ‘Dad, they’re going to send a private plane.’
He was like, ‘Yeah, but how do you feel?’
I was like, ‘Honestly, if I stand up, I feel not well. I could, you know, faint.’
He was like, ‘You’re not right.’
But I was like, ‘Dad, it’s a private plane’ (laughs).
So I didn’t go. But for that split second, I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing that’s probably ever happened to me in my life. This is unbelievable.’
I mean, I could have been on the private jet as well. This could be pretty special.”
Wood’s IPL career
While Wood did not name the franchise, he has played for only two of the existing 10. In 2018, he made his IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings and was ruled out of the tournament after just one game. In IPL 2023, he played four games for LSG, taking 11 wickets at an average of 11.81, including a five-wicket haul. However, an elbow injury had ruled him out of the tournament. Considering Wood mentioned that he had already played a few games in the season, he may be referring to his stint at LSG.
Wood who has had his struggles with injuries of late, including getting ruled out of the Ashes 2025-26 after just one game, chose not to put his name in IPL 2026 mini-auction.
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