England pacer Mark Wood has revealed an interesting story from his time at the Indian Premier League, where the owner of his franchise put in extra effort to get him on field, and had offered to send a private plane to take Wood to the ground and send another one to fly him back.
Speaking on BBC’s ‘Strategic Timeout’ podcast, narrated this interesting incident and said he was down with high fever ahead of an IPL match and the owner of his franchise had made this startling offer. He also revealed that the team owner had arranged for multiple doctors to look after Wood.
“I wasn’t very well after about five games, and the (next) game was in about three days’ time. Every half an hour, the doctor would stay back, come to my room, check on my vitals.
“I remember one day the owner ringing me, ‘How’re you feeling? Ready to go?’ and I said, ‘Honestly, I’ve eaten and drunk nothing, I still can’t get out of bed’. He went, ‘We’ll get you another doctor, we’ll do this and that’,” revealed Wood.
Wood said how the IPL team owner had offered to arrange two private planes just to ensure that he plays the game.
“Next day, it’s the owner again, ‘How are you feeling?’, and I said, ‘Honestly, I’m still not good’. He then said, ‘I’ll send a private plane, you get in the plane, play the game. Then I’ll get the plane straight back out and get you back to your bedside’,” said Wood.
The England fast bowler said he seriously thought about accepting the private plane offer and even spoke to his father for advice, but in the end, he decided to turn it down.
Wood has featured for two IPL teams in his career so far, playing one match for Chennai Super Kings in 2018 and four games for Lucknow Super Giants in 2023, where he picked up 11 wickets.
