‘Strongest T20 contest in the world’ IPL is a huge part of every year, admits Josh Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood has admitted that the Indian Premier League, which according to him is the strongest T20 competition in the world, is a huge part of every participating cricketer’s year. Hazlewood, who has never played an IPL game, was bought by the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2020 edition.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to a major change in the cricket calendar including the indefinite postponement of the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League. The 2020 season of the marquee T20 league was originally scheduled to begin on March 29. Despite the delay, the BCCI has been pushing to make the IPL happen this year, given the ICC postpones the T20 World Cup.
The ICC mega event is originally scheduled to begin on October 18, to be held down under. In fact, India are scheduled to tour Australia in December after the one-off match against Afghanistan on November 21 kicks off the Australian summer. In this regard, CSK pacer Hazlewood revealed that he is confident to be back in rhythm ahead of the Test cricket season.
"As long as we can train during that period it will be okay, it's if we come back and we can't train during that two-week period. We've built these loads up as fast bowlers then two weeks really hurts us coming into a summer of Test cricket. As far as red-ball ball cricket goes I feel I only need one, maximum two games, to get ready for a Test. There have been summers where we've come from a white-ball tour and only played one [red-ball game] and it's been fine. Everyone is a bit different, some guys need a bit more bowling and some less but we'll try to get that balance right," he told ESPNCricinfo.
The seasoned pacer also admitted that there will be tough decisions to make in terms of balance given the IPL is staged in the coming months. While Hazlewood would have to miss out on playing for New South Wales in the domestic season, he admitted that participating in the IPL would surpass that.
"There are a few things to fall into place yet but the IPL is such a huge part of the year for a lot of players and probably the strongest T20 competition in the world, up there with the Big Bash, and you learn a lot about how to play your T20 cricket and how to play in those conditions," he said. "You've seen guys come out of it much better players so there's a lot of positives to it, so if that takes a few games off us playing for New South Wales in the build-up to the international summer that's a tough call, probably comes back to the individual," he added.