Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke is not happy with the fact that one star bowler from his country has decided to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season despite having an injury-ridden start to the year where he has missed most of the international action for his country.
Josh Hazlewood has been suffering from an Achilles injury which kept him out of the India and Australia ODI and Test series as well as the start of the ongoing IPL season. He only made his return on Monday against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and took two wickets in a match that was marred by the verbal spat between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.
Speaking to Fox Sports, Clarke expressed his displeasure at Hazlewood's participation in the IPL. “I don’t know why he’s over playing IPL. I don’t know why he’s not over here in Australia preparing to play Test match cricket,” Hazlewood said after Hazlewood’s comeback appearance.
“In the nets, he’ll be bowling more than what the IPL players are bowling, in preparation for Test match cricket. But I just don’t know if his bowling three overs, four overs right now is his best preparation for an Ashes series after the injuries he’s had and the amount of time he’s had out of Test cricket.”
“It’s great to see him back playing, there’s no doubt about it, but for Australian Test cricket fans, you want to see him at his best for this Ashes series.”
Hazlewood was signed by RCB ahead of IPL 2022 for Rs 7.75 Crore. Meanwhile, other key Australian players playing in the ongoing season include Cameron Green (Rs 17.50 Crore for Mumbai Indians) and David Warner (Rs 6.25 Crore)
Keeping the same in mind, he did admit that Cricket Australia was in no position to compete financially. “They can stop you going, but it’s India. Are you kidding? No one is saying no to India,” he said.
“Is it in Cameron’s Green’s interest right now – with his body, with the Ashes series coming up, with the amount of cricket we have coming up – for him to be over there playing IPL? Or would he be better off taking four weeks’ rest, recover, rehab and start a pre-season?
“Unless Cricket Australia are going to say, ‘OK, the IPL has just offered you 3 million (Australia dollars) for eight weeks… we’ll pay you that 3 million, you stay home and train with us’, there’s nothing they can do.”
Hazlewood, Green and Warner are all in the 17-man squad that has been named for next month’s World Test Championship (WTC) final against India and the first two Ashes Tests at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
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