Lucknow, Mar 30 (IANS): Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have picked New Zealand pacer Matt Henry as a replacement for England left-arm fast-bowler David Willey, who has withdrawn from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to personal reasons.

As per a statement from the tournament, Henry joins LSG at his base price of INR 1.25 crore. This will be Henry’s third stint in the IPL after being a part of the Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings in the previous editions of the tournament.

Henry has featured in two IPL matches so far, both for the Punjab Kings in 2017. He has represented New Zealand in 25 Tests, 82 One-day Internationals (ODIs), and 17 T20 Internationals so far, taking 256 wickets overall.

He will now join the LSG fast-bowling group featuring Mohsin Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Shivam Mavi, Mohammad Arshad Khan, Mayank Yadav, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Yash Thakur, and Shamar Joseph, with Arshin Kulkarni and Marcus Stoinis capable of chipping in with few overs of seam bowling.

Ahead of the start of IPL 2024, LSG head coach Justin Langer did say that Willey would not be available for the tournament. Willey had spent the last few months turning out for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Multan Sultans in the ILT20 and the PSL in the UAE and Pakistan respectively. Before him, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Jason Roy pulled out of IPL 2024 due to varying reasons.

LSG, captained by K.L. Rahul, will be squaring off against the Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Saturday evening in their first home game of IPL 2024 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.