Lucknow Super Giants draft in Matt Henry as replacement for David Willey in IPL 2024

New Zealand quick Matt Henry will replace England seamer David Willey in Lucknow Super Giants' squad in IPL 2024. The right-arm seamer will join the Super Giants for his base price of ₹1.25 crore.

Willey, who fetched ₹2 crore from the Super Giants, has pulled out from the tournament due to personal reasons after it initially emerged that he would miss the first half of the tournament for the same. The retired international cricketer had previously plied his trade for the Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Henry, meanwhile, has featured for New Zealand in 25 Tests, 82 ODIs, and 17 T20Is. The 32-year-old has claimed 151 scalps in 131 T20s at 24.70 along with three four-wicket hauls. He was also part of the Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings previously but both his IPL games came for the latter in 2017.

David Willey joins Jason Roy, Gus Atkinson, and Mark Wood as English players to pull out of IPL 2024

David Willey. (Image Credits: Getty)

Before Willey, Jason Roy (Kolkata Knight Riders), Gus Atkinson (Kolkata Knight Riders), and Mark Wood (Lucknow Super Giants) also withdrew from the 17th edition of the tournament.

The Knight Riders named Dushmantha Chameera and Phil Salt as replacements for Roy and Atkinson. Meanwhile, West Indies' latest pace-bowling sensation Shamar Joseph came in for Wood.

The Super Giants lost their opening match of IPL 2024 to the Rajasthan Royals despite the best efforts of KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran. Their second match is against the Punjab Kings on Saturday (March 30) in Lucknow as they are scheduled to play their first home fixture.

The Punjab Kings, led by Shikhar Dhawan, suffered a loss in their second match to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Should the Super Giants lose on Saturday, they will join the Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians in suffering a defeat in their first two matches.