Mark Wood produces outstanding bowling spell to rattle through FIVE wickets in the Indian Premier League as big-money mover Sam Curran also makes a winning start to life for the Punjab Kings since being snapped up for £1.85m
- Mark Wood stunned the Delhi Capitals with a five-wicket haul on Saturday
- The England pace bowler claimed three scalps in his opening two overs
- Sam Curran also won his first game since becoming the IPL’s highest-paid star
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Sam Curran made a winning start to his spell as the Indian Premier League’s highest-paid cricketer, but was outshone by a career-best display from England team-mate Mark Wood.
In his first match since being snapped up for an eye-watering £1.85million, Curran hit an unbeaten 26 off 17 balls from no 6 for Punjab Kings, and later nipped in ahead of the rain to claim the crucial scalp of Andre Russell.
When the wet weather blanketed Mohali soon afterwards, it denied Kolkata Knight Riders the last four overs of a chase of 192 and consigned them to a seven-run loss on the DLS method.
However, Wood – a relative snip at £735,000 – produced an even more impactful performance during a defence of 193 for six, claiming three wickets in his opening two overs amongst a maiden five-wicket haul to ransack Delhi’s batting in Lucknow Super Giants’ 50-run win.
During his initial burst, the 90-mile-per-hour Durham fast bowler rushed through the defences of both India international Prithvi Shaw and Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, bowling them with consecutive deliveries, and then had Sarfaraz Khan caught at fine leg from a venomous bouncer to plunge the Ricky Ponting-coached Capitals from 41 without loss to 48 for three.
Mark Wood celebrated a dominant bowling spell in the Indian Premier League on Saturday
Wood celebrated with his colleagues after taking another wicket for the Lucknow Super Giants
Wood claimed the scalp of Prithvi Shaw (pictured) of the Delhi Capitals in a resounding win for the Super Giants
At that stage, the 33-year-old had figures of 2-0-3-3 and mishits from Axar Patel and Chetan Sakariya in his third spell – the final over of the match – saw him finish with five for 14 on his delayed Lucknow debut.
Wood – who was signed ahead of the 2022 season but was forced to withdraw because of an elbow injury that required surgery – comfortably surpassed his previous best haul of four for 25 in the process.
In his only other IPL outing five years ago, Wood leaked 49 runs from four overs for Chennai Super Kings in a one-wicket win over Mumbai Indians.
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