IPL 2024: West Indies' Shamar Joseph replaces Mark Wood in Lucknow Super Giants squad

Pacer Shamar Joseph has landed an Indian Premier League (IPL) deal days after his sensational seven-wicket haul helped West Indies defeat Australia in Brisbane in what is one of their greatest Test victories of all time. Two weeks after his heroics at the Gabba, where Australia ended up suffering just their second Test defeat since 1988, Joseph has been awarded his maiden IPL contract with Lucknow Super Giants naming him as their replacement for England pacer Mark Wood. Read | Who is Shamar Joseph, pacer who helped WI clinch historic win at Gabba Joseph joins the KL Rahul-led LSG for Rs 3 crore while Wood, who had played only a handful of matches last year, has reportedly been withdrawn from the IPL by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). According to ESPNCricinfo, the ECB are keen on saving him for the T20 World Cup as well as for the home summer that follows, and are similarly managing the workload of another pacer — Jofra Archer, who like Wood has been withdrawn from the IPL. Guyanese pacer Joseph ran through the Australian batting lineup with figures of 7/68 to guide West Indies to a thrilling eight-run victory that helped them level the two-Test series 1-1. The 24-year-old had previously collected 5/94 on international debut in the first Test in Adelaide, though his effort would ultimately go in vain as the Pat Cummins-led hosts strolled to a 10-wicket victory. WPL: Lea Tahuhu joins Gujarat Giants Meanwhile in the Women’s Premier League, New Zealand seamer Lea Tahuhu has replaced Australia’s Lauren Cheatle in the Gujarat Giants squad just seven days before the second season gets underway. According to a release from the BCCI, Cheatle had recently undergone a medical procedure on her neck that has ruled her out of WPL 2024. The 33-year-old Tahuhu has plied her trade in a number of T20 Leagues across the world, from representing the Manchester Originals in The Hundred and Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League to having played for the Supernovas in the Women’s T20 Challenge, the T20 event organised by the BCCI that had preceded the WPL and had taken alongside the IPL. Tahuhu has a total of 187 wickets to her name in 173 appearances for the White Ferns — 93 ODI and 80 T20I — in an international career that began all the way back in 2011.