Australia speedster Josh Hazlewood's statement raised few eyebrows when he said that he would not be surprised if some of his players do not want to tour Pakistan due to security reasons. Australia is expected to tour Pakistan in March and this will be the first time since 1998 that Australia will tour Pakistan.
“There’s a lot of stuff out there and a lot of work has been done in the background by CA and ACA. So there’s a lot of trust from the players, but of course there will be some concerns from the players and I won’t be surprised if some of them don’t tour.” Yes,” Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.
“And it’s very fair. People will discuss it with their families … and come up with an answer and everyone respects that,” he said.
Australia’s tour of Pakistan will consist of three Tests, three ODIs and one T20I. The Tests will take place in Karachi (3-7 March), Rawalpindi (12-16 March) and Lahore (March 21-25 ), while Lahore will be the venue for four white-ball matches to be played from March 29.
With England and New Zealand canceling their tours to Pakistan last year, Australia traveling successfully for a full-fledged tour will be a huge thing for the regular revival of international cricket in the country.
Hazlewood had missed four Ashes Tests due to a side strain and the pacer also opened up about how frustrating it was to sit on the sidelines.
“If I had a normal (side strain), a major injury and you know you’re going to be out, you can deal with it all at once. But it just kept teasing, teasing, I might be able to To play it, maybe I’ll be able to play it,” Hazlewood said.
“I definitely had a specific side strain, where you tear your oblique (muscle), you can’t bowl the second ball and get out for at least six or seven weeks. It was a different . .. the strength came back really quickly, and I could do a lot in the gym. It was just bowling, that dynamic pace, that hurt a little bit. It was an unusual one,” he said.
Asked how he felt after Australia won the five-match Ashes 4-0, the 31-year-old pacer said: “It was very frustrating. You probably don't realize it as much now, but when you look back in 10 years ... people will talk about the Ashes when they won 4-0 in 2021 ... and it'd hit you again”.
"It was frustrating watching and obviously as time goes on, you'd be reminded of it more often than not. But that's part of fast bowling, I guess," he added.
