Chose World Cup and Ashes over IPL due to time constraints, reveals Chris Woakes

Ahead of the second half of IPL 2021 in UAE, a bunch of England players have withdrawn their names from the remainder of the season. Chris Woakes, who plays for Delhi Capitals (DC) was one among the three England cricketers who pulled out from the second leg of IPL 2021 recently. Woakes had a great start to the 14th edition of IPL as he scalped five wickets from three matches he played in India.

Meanwhile, Chris Woakes reckoned that he has opted out of playing in IPL due to time constraints. Notably, the upcoming T20 World Cup and Ashes are scheduled to take place in a short space of time and Woakes has decided to pick and chose national team duty over the lucrative league.

"With the World Cup and the Ashes, it would have been too much in a short space of time. I would have loved to have been part of the IPL but something has to give," Woakes was quoted as saying by 'The Guardian'.

Speaking on his addition to the England's T20 World Cup squad, Woakes stated that he never thought of getting selected to the squad for the ICC tournament in UAE.

"My inclusion in the World Cup squad, I didn’t know was going to happen – especially a couple of months ago. The IPL has been rescheduled and thrown on to the end of our summer," Woakes, who will play for Warwickshire this week, said.

Even though many England players have expressed their concerns regarding the Ashes series and Australia’s Covid-19 protocols, Woakes is very keen to take part in the Ashes. Woakes reckoned that he is excited about playing the T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman and the Ashes in Australia.

“A World Cup and an Ashes tour, it’s almost as big a winter as our summer was in 2019. It’s a shame with what’s going on Covid-wise that it’s not going to be as normal as everyone would like. But, from a cricket perspective, it’s very exciting.”

Delhi Capitals on Monday named Ben Dwarshius as replacement for Chris Woakes.