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After the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 was suspended for a week due to military conflict on India-Pakistan border, there were speculations that Australian players may not return for the remainder of the season. While Delhi Capitals (DC) Mitchell Starc opted out after Dharamsala game was cancelled midway, Josh Hazlewood returned after recovering from shoulder injury and made an impact in the playoffs. While a few World Test Championship (WTC) final-bound players left, especially South Africans, Hazlewood chose to stay and wrecked Punjab Kings (PBKS) batting lineup in Qualifier 1 on May 29. In the post-match press conference, Hazlewood said that it is better to prepare by bowling in the IPL to get the intensity right rather than joining the camp.
"...I've got to be bowling, you know wherever I am in the world, I've got to be bowling getting ready for that game (WTC final) anyway," said Hazlewood after RCB reached their fourth IPL final with an eight-wicket win against PBKS.
"There's no better place than I think out in the middle, obviously you've got to bowl more, more hours of training from time to time to build up for a Test, but to get that intensity right up, there's no better place than the IPL," he added.
Hazlewood stuck to Test match approach
Hazlewood had not played a game since April 27. He revealed that he bowled like the way he does in Test cricket in Qualifier 1. He was happy with his performance after coming back from shoulder injury.
"I don't bowl too much differently in Test match cricket than tonight," said the veteran pacer.
"(I have) worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulders to get back and got some good overs into it the last sort of 10 days, and yeah it is feeling good to be back...
"...So, I was happy with tonight, the wicket helped obviously didn't it? Not having to bowl fast yorkers or anything like that. So yeah it is feeling good to be back."
With the new ball, Hazlewood got the wicket of captain Shreyas Iyer followed by his Australian teammate Josh Inglis. He returned to dismiss Azmatullah Omarzai and bowl out PBKS for 101.
Hazlewood has missed four games for RCB this season. Despite that, he has 21 wickets from 11 games at an average of 15.80. His economy rate is 8.30 runs per over.
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