New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Gujarat Titans’ left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood said the standard in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is closest to what one gets while playing international cricket, adding that featuring in the tournament was an aim he was chasing since childhood and ranked it just behind the honour of representing England.
“It’s pretty well known across the world that the IPL is the sort of main event in the calendar. So, for me, being able to play in the IPL and represent a team is a massive privilege. I think as a kid, besides playing for England, for me, the IPL was always on the radar.
“So, look, a lot of franchise leagues are similar in terms of just if you’re playing for a new team or you’re with people you necessarily don’t know to start with, or on that side as well. But the actual standard of cricket in the IPL is probably at a next level and the closest to international cricket you’re going to get,” Wood, who’s played 3 ODIs and 16 T20Is for England, told IANS in an exclusive conversation on Saturday.
Apart from the IPL, Wood has played in The Hundred, Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League, Pakistan Super League, and ILT20. While signalling young fast bowler Ashok Sharma as a fantastic talent, Wood also distinguished the IPL and other franchise T20 leagues around the world.
“I mean, you could argue it’s probably just as good at times. It’s different, like playing over here is different. It’s probably different wickets, different players, and you actually get to see some quite exciting young players over here that sometimes can blow your mind a little bit.
“So, almost like that young lad from Rajasthan (Ashok Sharma), you sort of see people like him come through, and it’s good to see. But no, it’s great to be back in the IPL. I enjoyed it last time, and I look forward to the rest of the season,” he added.
Wood, acquired by GT in last year’s auction in Abu Dhabi, is a high-pace powerplay bowling option and serves as a potential back-up to Kagiso Rabada. He has been among the more productive T20 pacers since the start of 2025 – picking 56 wickets at an average of 24.2. He said his current experience with GT has been seamless, crediting the franchise’s culture for making him feel instantly at home.
“It’s been good. It’s been everything that Jos (Buttler) and Vic (Vikram Solanki, Director of Cricket) said before I came, and they were very complimentary of it. I’m going to say it definitely lived up to the expectations. Everything about it is well run, it’s well managed, and you can kind of get everything you need as a player, whether that be on and off the field.
“You’re well looked after, and it’s nice as a sort of new player on the team that you can sort of feel right at home and sort of integrated pretty well into it. So that’s credit to how they do things here, and I’m enjoying my time here so far,” he added.
On the field, Wood’s primary weapon remains swinging the new ball and executing inswinging yorkers – a skill he says has been refined by playing for well over a decade. “I think I’ve just done it for (a long time). That’s always kind of been my strength across the board, is sort of swinging a new ball. That stems from when I was a kid, starting fresh cricket, and throughout that, it’s always been my main strength.
“Then obviously when I first started playing cricket, that was sort of the natural, left-armer, over the wicket bowling kind of thing. I think now I’ve just done it for sort of a long period of time, give or take 10 years. So it almost becomes a bit second nature now,” he added.
Adapting that skill to Indian conditions, however, required some homework, and Wood has found an ideal guide in GT head coach Ashish Nehra, himself a former left-arm pacer for India.
“I’ve had a bit of help so far from Ash (Ashish Nehra, head coach), just about understanding these wickets a bit better over here because I’ve not played a great deal in India. So it’s been quite helpful. But I think just the case of doing it, like my whole T20 career has been based around that. I normally bowl one of the first two overs in every single game. So you kind of get a feel for it after a while,” he said.
On the tactical question of bowling Test match-like lengths in power-play, Wood feels it can never have a one-size-fits-all answer, citing the approaches of fellow left-arm pacers Arshdeep Singh and Mitchell Starc as reference points.
“I wouldn’t say it’s too far away from a good idea. I think it’s a mix of both – obviously the wicket and the ground you’re playing on, but also of your strength as a bowler. So I think you’ll tend to see left-arm seamers, for example, bowl to right-arm batters go a bit forward to start with.
“Like you see how maybe Arshdeep bowls initially, if he swings the ball back, he’ll go fuller. If you sort of watch Starc bowl, they tend to go full to start with, which is quite a natural thing for left-armers anyway, which is quite into your strengths. So I think it’s just a mix between the wicket and not going away from your strengths, but also making a sort of calculated decision on what’s going to be effective.
“If you see the other team bowl quite full and it’s a really good wicket and they get hit a bit and it’s been harder for length, then maybe you might be inclined to pull your length back a bit. But no, sometimes you can’t just bowl, like you said, that Test match length or even a bit fuller and say it feels accordingly for the best,” he said.
The value of being in a high-pressure environment and the wealth of knowledge available within GT’s fast bowling group on match days and outside of it has been invaluable for Wood.
“It’s been good to sort of tap into different people’s way of thinking. Similar to the conversation I just had with you a second ago, like everyone has different opinions, and obviously, even the head coach, Ash, he’s got a great knowledge of himself, and being a left armer, that’s been very beneficial to me.
“Whether you’re playing in the games or not, there’s still so much value in being around this set-up and with the bowlers that are available to speak to. If you work on something, for example, if you work on a certain thing, you’re not short of people to ask.
“So it’s been good to see how they go about their business. Obviously, they’ve played for a long time. A lot of them are at the top of the game; they play for and represent their country a lot. So there are always things you can take from people and be involved in this. Obviously, having not had game time yet, but the actual value in itself is in being around people like that, and it’s been great,” he said.
Wood was effusive in his praise for Nehra, likening him good-naturedly to an animated football manager while underlining the coach’s genuine commitment to his players. “I mean, I can see it – the football coach’s resemblance. But Ash has been great, he’s a proper character.
“Everything is known about him – that he comes from a good and meaningful place to help people. He wants people to succeed, which, as a player, you want your head coach to back you, and he’s always the best. So, I mean, he’s obviously sometimes a bit animated, but that’s just as a person, his style of doing it.
“But yeah, he’s a character – I think that’s probably the best way to describe him. I can only praise him so far – he’s been great, and the lads seem to love him, and he seems to get the best out of people, and you look at sort of GT’s history in the competition, and he’s clearly doing something right,” he added.
GT, the IPL 2022 winners, have shown encouraging signs after a stumbling start to the ongoing season with a hat-trick of wins, and Wood is confident the tide that has turned for them will continue when they take on the Mumbai Indians, the side he represented in 2024, at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday evening.
“It’s good and nice to get the momentum going. Obviously, we had a tricky first couple of games. So obviously, with the success of the team over the last four years that it’s been there, that was a disappointing start, I think, for the lads. I think they were hoping for better, but by the look of the last three games, we’ve sort of built a bit of momentum going forward, and hopefully that can continue,” he concluded.
–IANS
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