IPL 2023: Mark Wood’s fast and furious

LSG pacer Mark Wood celebrates the dismissal of DC opener Prithvi Shaw at Lucknow on Saturday. Pic/PTI

England pace spearhead Mark Wood credited bowling coach Morne Morkel for keeping things simple at training as he returned with sensational figures of 5-14 on his IPL debut for Lucknow Super Giants in their massive 50-run win against Delhi Capitals, here on Saturday.

After Kyle Mayers 38-ball 73 led them to a massive 193-6, Lucknow Super Giants restricted Delhi Capitals to 143-9 with Wood decimating the DC top-order in his first two overs with some high quality pace bowling.

"KL [Rahul] tried to keep things simple for me and the planning with Morne helped me. He has been really good with me, just try to do similar with what I do for England," Wood said after receiving the player-of-the-match.

On the Mark

Wood had failed to impress for Chennai Super Kings couple of seasons back and struggled with a hip injury which didn't allow him to play for LSG last season.

LSG bowling coach Morne Morkel

"Last time, I played for CSK and it didn't go quite well. So I wanted to try to make an impact this time and I'm delighted that it's gone well today.

"I felt good for a little period of time actually. You could see the dew on the grass and it affected me. I fall even at the best of times. I'm just pleased that I managed to get some rhythm in and take some wickets.

Wood further said he kept his strides short because of the wet outfield because of the dew.

Skipper Rahul was also all-praise for Wood.

Also read: Gill sizzles as Gujarat Titans begin IPL title defence with five-wicket win over CSK

"It was Woody's day today. It's always a dream for a fast bowler. When someone is going well and has those kinds of performances, it has a huge impact on the team and on the result of the game."

It was a grand homecoming for LSG as they played their first-ever home match.

A confusing wicket

"We were clueless about the pitch. It was a nice way to start and will take a lot of confidence from this. I felt that we were 25-30 runs above par with the way that Kyle batted and the intent of the other batters getting on with the game and taking on the spinners."

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever