England fast bowler Mark Wood revealed a bizarre story from his time in the Indian Premier League, recalling how a franchise owner once offered to fly him out on a private plane just to get him to play one match in the tournament.
Speaking on a BBC podcast, Wood narrated an incident from a season where he had featured in a handful of games before falling ill. The England pacer said the team management, including the owner, was desperate to have him available despite his condition. Hence, the team owner offered to send a private plane, fly him out, get him to play the match, and then fly him back to the hotel.
It is important to note that the England fast bowler did not have an extensive run in the Indian Premier League. Wood’s IPL career has been limited to just five matches across two franchises. He made a solitary appearance for Chennai Super Kings before featuring four times for Lucknow Super Giants in 2023.
The small sample size, combined with his own recollection of playing “about five games” in a season, strongly hints that the incident took place during his time with Lucknow.
That context becomes important, because Wood went on to reveal that an IPL franchise owner personally called him up in an attempt to get him to play a match, even offering to fly him in on a private plane.
In the interview, Wood recalled that he had fallen seriously ill after playing four matches in the tournament. He had three days to recover for the game, but was unlikely to make it in time. What followed was perhaps in equal part funny and equal part sad.
HERE’S MARK WOOD’S IPL STORY
“I’ll give you a story which wasn’t fun. I wasn’t very well. After about five games, I’d picked up an illness there, and the next game was about three days’ time.
So every half an hour, the doctor who had stayed back would come to my room, take my vitals, and try to get me right.
I remember one day, the IPL team owner was ringing me and he was like, ‘How are we feeling? Are we ready to go?’
I was like, ‘Honestly, I’ve ate and drank nothing. I can’t get out of bed still. I’m hoping that, you know, if I can think’
And he was like, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll get another doctor. We’ll give you this, we’ll do that, we’ll do that.’
So I’ve got these three doctors in my room, giving me tablets, trying to help me.
Next day, he’s like, ‘How are we feeling? What’s the update again? How are you feeling?’
I was like, ‘Honestly, I’m still not good. I haven’t had anything.’
And he was like, ‘But I’ll tell you what, I will send a private plane. You get on the plane, play the game, I’ll get the plane straight back out, and you can get back to your bedside.’
So I rang my dad and I was like, ‘Dad, they’re going to send a private plane.’
He was like, ‘Yeah, but how do you feel?’
I was like, ‘Honestly, if I stand up, I feel not well. I could, you know, faint.’
He was like, ‘You’re not right.’
But I was like, ‘Dad, it’s a private plane’ (laughs).
So I didn’t go. But for that split second, I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing that’s probably ever happened to me in my life. This is unbelievable.’
I mean, I could have been on the private jet as well. This could be pretty special.”
SHOULD MARK WOOD HAVE FLOWN?
While Wood did not name the franchise or the owner, it looks like a story from his time with Lucknow Super Giants. Despite the extraordinary lengths the franchise was willing to go to, Wood chose common sense over curiosity and stayed put. Still, as he admitted, for a brief moment, the idea of turning up to an IPL game on a private jet was hard to resist, even if his body had other plans.
