As the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has now entered into business end, three of the participating teams — Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) — recently faced a huge blow, as four of their star players will take an early exit.
English cricketers Moeen Ali (RCB), Chris Woakes (RCB), Mark Wood (CSK) and Ben Stokes (RR) have to return home as they are part of the English Test squad which is scheduled to play Pakistan in a two-match Test series starting on May 24.
Also, the England Cricket Board (ECB) needs the four players to be back at least a week prior to the start of the Test series against Pakistan. Hence, they will have to be with their national team by May 17. The first game of this series will be played at The Lord’s, London.
Mark Wood has played one game for the CSK so far and impressed with his bowling. Chris Woakes had a decent start as he wore the Purple Cap for a little while but later, he was benched. The most expensive overseas player, Ben Stokes (Rs 12.5 crore) has failed to make a mark so far while Moeen Ali got a chance against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
