England left-arm seamer David Willey has withdrawn from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) due to personal reasons and will be replaced by New Zealand’s Matt Henry at the Lucknow Super Giants. Henry will join the LSG franchise at his base price of Rs 1.25 crores.
Willey, who bid adieu to international cricket after the ODI World Cup in India last year, missed Lucknow’s IPL opener against Rajasthan Royals last week.
Willey joined the Lucknow Super Giants through the auction last year after representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during IPL 2022 and 2023. The left-arm seamer had also complained of fatigue after spending more than two months on the road after appearing in other T20 tournaments like ILT20 (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders) and Pakistan Super League (Multan Sultans) earlier this year.
Willey is the second England player to withdraw from the LSG this season after Mark Wood, who was pulled out by the English cricket board to manage his workload ahead of the T20 World Cup in June. Wood was replaced by West Indian pacer Shamar Joseph.
Meanwhile, New Zealand fast bowler Henry, who was a part of Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings in the past, has featured in two IPL matches so far, both for the PBKS in 2017. Henry has represented New Zealand in 25 Tests, 82 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 17 T20 Internationals so far.