IPL: Mark Wood bought for £734,000 by Lucknow Super Giants at auction
- Published
Mark Wood was England's leading wicket-taker in this winter's Ashes in Australia, with 17
England fast bowler Mark Wood was bought for £734,000 by new franchise Lucknow Super Giants on day one of the Indian Premier League auction.
Wood, 32, withdrew from last year's auction to spend more time with his family.
England batter Jason Roy was bought by Gujarat Titans, the other new franchise, for £196,000, while Jonny Bairstow cost Punjab Kings £660,500.
India's Ishan Kishan was the most expensive player bought on day one.
The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was bought back by Mumbai Indians for £1.5m, making him the second-most expensive Indian player in IPL history, after former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.
He is also the fourth-most expensive player overall, judged on their price in Indian rupees, after former South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris, Yuvraj and Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins.
Durham's Wood has only played one IPL game before, in 2018 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), but is expected to be available for most of the 2022 IPL season.
This year's event will start on 2 April and run until 3 June, with Lucknow and the Ahmedabad-based Titans taking the number of teams to 10.
All-rounder Moeen Ali, who won the 2021 title with CSK, and Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper Jos Buttler were the only England players retained by their franchises.
England leg-spinner Adil Rashid and wicketkeeper Sam Billings both went unsold on day one in Bangalore.
Other England players hoping to pick up deals on the second day of the auction on Sunday include white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Craig Overton, James Vince and David Willey.
The IPL auctioneer Hugh Edmeades collapsed part way through day one because of low blood pressure but was attended to immediately and the IPL said he is stable.
Broadcaster Charu Sharma, who co-hosts the BBC World Service podcast Stumped, took over for the rest of the proceedings.
CSK bought India bowler Deepak Chahar for £1.4m - the second highest fee paid.
India batter Shreyas Iyer was the third-most expensive player, going to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for £1.2m.
Iyer was one of 10 marquee players auctioned in the first round, which also included Australia T20 World Cup winners David Warner, who went to Delhi Capitals for £612,000, and Cummins, who was bought back by KKR for £709,500.
Punjab Kings bought India opener Shikhar Dhawan for £807,300 and South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for £905,200.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, for £489,300, and New Zealand left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult, for £782,850, both joined Rajasthan Royals.
Afterwards Ashwin said he was "looking forward to sharing the dressing room" with Buttler at Rajasthan.
Buttler reacted furiously when he was run out at the non-striker's end by Ashwin, then playing for Kings XI Punjab, in the 2019 IPL.
Faf du Plessis' long association with CSK came to an end after he was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for £685,000, while fellow South African Quinton de Kock went to Lucknow for £660,500.
India fast bowler Mohammed Shami was bought by Gujarat Titans for £612,000.
Other notable overseas signings included Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga being bought by RCB for £1.1m, New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson going to Gujarat Titans for £980,000 and Lucknow buying West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder for £856,000.
Australia batter Steve Smith and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan were among the list of players who went unsold.