England all-rounder Chris Woakes has withdrawn from the upcoming Indian Premier League edition in order to stay fresh ahead of England's home Test summer season.
Woakes, a 150 lakh (£160,000) signing for the Delhi Capitals at December 2019 auction, has not played a T20 since August 2018, and last played a T20I for England in November 2015.
Woakes has earlier played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
This is a third blow for the Delhi-based franchise after the Indian pacer, Ishant Sharma got an ankle injury while he was with National test side touring New Zealand. Ishant is likely to miss the first half of the 13th edition of the IPL, and Kagiso Rabada, who may also miss the first week of the IPL due to an injury during the final T20I of the series against Australia.
Besides Woakes, DC quick department has Mohit Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Keemo Paul and Tushar Deshpande.
The IPL is scheduled to begin from March 29 and the first match of the season will be played between defending champions Mumbai Indians and last-season's runners-up Chennai Super Kings.
The Delhi-based franchise, who is yet to capture a title at the IPL, will kickstart their campaign against Kings XI Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on March 30.
The full list of Delhi Capitals players:
Retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane.
New Players: Jason Roy (Rs 1.50 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 7.75 crore), Alex Carey (Rs 2.40 crore), Marcus Stoinis (Rs 4.80 crore), Mohit Sharma (Rs 50 lakh), Tarun Deshpande (Rs 20 lakh), Lalit Yadav (Rs 20 lakh)
Traded in: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane
