‘It’s about recharging those batteries’ – Woakes withdrew from IPL 2020 to extend England career
Chris Woakes has expressed hope that his decision to withdraw from IPL 2020 and take a “bit of a breather” can extend his England career.
Woakes, who was signed by Delhi Capitals for around £160,000 during the IPL auction in December, announced his decision to withdraw from the tournament last week, and has now revealed he wanted a break from a hectic schedule, with the realisation that he wasn’t in the scheme of things for England’s T20 World Cup campaign later this year.
“I want to play for England as long as possible – that’s still the pinnacle for me,” said Woakes, who is in Sri Lanka for England’s two-Test series beginning on March 19. “I just feel like I’d been on a bit of a treadmill, and I needed to get off for a bit of a breather. From a mental point of view, it’s about recharging those batteries.
Woakes hasn’t played a T20 since 2018 and hasn’t featured in a T20I since 2015.https://t.co/VBf7MbsVrU
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) March 6, 2020
“The IPL is great, but I’ve been there and done it. That’s not to say I don’t want to do it again, but at this moment, England is the most important thing to me, as well as spending time at home with the family where I can.”
Woakes said he didn’t enter the auction intending to pull out. However, having also been part of England’s tour of New Zealand and South Africa, apart from the ongoing assignment in Sri Lanka, he realised “it’s impossible to do everything”.
He added that he would have played the IPL and pressed his case to be part of the T20 World Cup squad had he thought he had a chance to make it. However, he hasn’t played a T20I since 2015, and isn’t in the scheme of things as far as the upcoming World Cup is concerned.
Chris Woakes is a regular in the England ODI set up as they won the World Cup last year
“If I felt like I had real good opportunity to be in that T20 squad, I’d probably still go to IPL and try to produce some good form,” he said. “They (the selectors) know what I’m about and what I can do but realistically it’d probably take a few injuries for me to be in contention.
“I suppose I don’t know the answer to why that happened. I think it happened gradually. The 50-over World Cup was prioritised, which was right, and during that period, I was rested during a lot of T20 series.
“Would I want to change that or have it any other way? No, because it meant that I focused more on 50-over cricket and that has made me a World Cup winner – you can’t take that away. Hopefully I’ve extended my career rather than trying to spread it across all three formats.”
