IPL 2021: Ben Dwarshuis to replace Chris Woakes at Delhi Capitals for UAE leg
England all-rounder Chris Woakes will be replaced by Australian pacer Ben Dwarshuis at the Delhi Capitals for 2021 IPL’s UAE leg, which commences on September 19. Woakes was one of the three players – the other two being Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Jonny Bairstow and Punjab Kings’ Dawid Malan – who recently pulled out of the second leg of the edition.
Woakes picked five wickets in three games in the first half of the tournament, which was brought to an abrupt halt in the first week of May after the emergence of Covid-19 inside the bio-secure environment prepared for the league. Dwarshuis, who has 100 T20 wickets in 82 matches at 23.73, was the second-leading wicket-taker during the Big Bash League 2020-21, with 24 wickets t 16.79 for the season champions Sydney Sixers. He was more recently active in the T20 Blast, where he bagged 15 wickets at 27.93 for Worcestershire.
Ben Dwarshuis is ready to ROAR 🤩
Welcome to the DC family, Ben 💙
Read more 👉🏼 https://t.co/k7Njmtf8Qh#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/1Ab0R82jb6
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) September 13, 2021
Meanwhile, Woakes’ exit comes when IPL won’t already see the services of other England and Rajasthan Royals players Ben Stokes (mental health reasons), Jofra Archer (elbow injury) and Jos Buttler (parental duties).
CSK, MI to kickstart IPL 2021 second leg
The 14th edition of the league is set to resume in the UAE on September 19, with the arch-rivals Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings taking on each other. While the initial leg of the tournament did not have any mishaps, the Covid-19 virus crept in during the second leg of the tournament in Ahmedabad and Delhi, leading it to be postponed indefinitely.
While now, the resuming league phase of the tournament is supposed to run until October 8, with the first qualifier scheduled on October 10. The Eliminator, second qualifier and the final will be played on October 11, 13 and 15, respectively. Incidentally, the T20 World Cup 2021 starts only two days after the IPL final.
At the time of season suspension, the Delhi Capitals occupied the top spot in the points tally, with 12 points in eight fixtures, followed by MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore at positions two and three, both with 10 points in seven games.
