Mumbai Indians” Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season after a freak accident at training last week.
The lanky pacer, who with his left-arm pace was one of the prime leaders of the Mumbai Indians bowling unit last term — 14 wickets in 12 games — continues to recover from a fractured left fibula. He sustained the injury last week during a practice session at the WACA cricket ground.
While he does not require surgery, the reigning Australia Men’s T20I Player of the Year has been given a tentative recovery timeline of roughly eight weeks. This effectively means no participation in IPL 2024 and a potential absence from the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in June.
“Unfortunately there was a freak accident at training last week which resulted in my leg being broken. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, just a very unlucky incident. I have loved being a part of the MI Family and I am absolutely gutted to be missing this years IPL. Wishing Mumbai Indians a successful season and hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to be back next year,” said Behrendorff via his Instagram story.
In light of this, MI have signed in English international cricketer Luke Wood as a like-for-like replacement. The 28-year-old fast bowler has an experience of 140 T20 matches where he has scalped 147 wickets at an average of 25.87 and economy rate of 8.45.
