IPL 2018 | Mark Wood ends IPL stint with CSK to prepare for England summer

English fast bowler Mark Wood, who was bought by CSK for 1.5 crores, has bid goodbye to his IPL franchise in order to prepare for the long England summer. England would host Pakistan, India, and Australia, apart from the solitary ODI against Scotland on June 10. After playing the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians, which was the only match he featured going wicket-less for 49 runs, he has decided to play for his county team Durham instead of sitting on the bench for CSK.

According to Cricbuzz, the announcement was made on Wood’s Instagram page, which read, “The decision has been made for me to return home to England to prepare for the English summer.”

“Having worked so hard to get back into the test team, and because I’m not currently not in the CSK side, I am coming home to play for Durham to hopefully put my name in the hat for Test match selection,” Wood added.

Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali would also end their IPL stint after the group stages to prepare for the summer season in national colors. England will host Pakistan for a 2 match Test series starting on May 24 at the Lord’s, while the final of the IPL will be played on May 27th at the Wankhede Stadium. 

After Pakistan, England will play a five-match ODI series against Australia from June 13 and later will host Australia in a one-off T20I on June 27. The much-awaited Indian tour of England has been scheduled from July 3 with a 3-match T20I series, followed by a 3-match ODI series. The tour will then proceed to 5-match Test series starting on August 1.