Playing in his second Indian Premier League (IPL), the first since 2018, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) express pacer Mark Wood displayed why there is no substitute for lightning-quick bowling. The right-arm England pacer unleashed thunderbolts regularly and made star T20 batters look like greenhorns. He not only exposed Indian batters' weakness against genuine pacers but also made life difficult for overseas batters.
In his dream spell with the ball, Wood breathed fire and rattled the woodwork twice. It was his fiery spell that rolled out LSG's path to a resounding 50-run win against the Delhi Capitals (DC).
Wood was introduced into the attack in the last over of the powerplay and he struck twice off consecutive deliveries to push DC on the back foot. Shaw was the first to fall as he got bamboozled by a fuller-length delivery that nipped back in just a little bit to find the gap between the right-hander's bat and pad. In the next ball, Marsh's woodwork was rattled as the Aussie batter went for an expansive drive, only to be beaten by extreme pace. Both the deliveries were bowled in excess of 147 kph.
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In his next over, Wood struck again. Sarfaraz Khan went for an uppercut but lost control and got caught at the fine leg. In the last over of the match, Wood ended the proceedings in the same manner in which he had started. The right-arm speedster first dismissed Axar Patel and then bagged the wicket of Chetan Sakariya to complete a marvelous five-wicket haul.
Wood became the second English bowler to take a fifer in IPL 2023. Before Wood, former England all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas took 5/25 for then-Kings XI Punjab against now-defunct Pune Warriors India in Mohali in 2012. Wood's 5/14 is also the best bowling figure by an LSG bowler. The previous best belonged to uncapped Indian left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan who took 4/16 against DC at Wankhede Stadium last season.
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