Australia’s senior pacer and 2-time World Cup winner Josh Hazlewood has claimed that he is desperate to get some game time during the period when most of his teammates will be busy taking part in the Indian Premier League 2024 edition. The right-arm pacer will be vying for his 2nd ICC T20 World Cup title, which he first won with the Kangaroos in the 2021 edition.
Josh Hazlewood feels that it will be important for him to gain some valuable game time in the shortest format at that period so that he maintains a good shape and stays in rhythm to be at his very best when the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies begins from June 1 onwards.
The Aussies will be aiming to become the first ever international team to officially become reigning champions of all 3 formats. The 2023 calendar year proved to be a very productive one for Pat Cummins’ side as they completed the ICC trophy lot and entered the history books yet again.
It all started with the Border-Gavaskar trophy in which Australia after going down in the first 2 Tests, responded by winning the 3rd and drawing the last one which saw India retain the BGT trophy for the second time in a row.
Australia took their revenge for the 2-1 series loss with a 209-run win over Rohit Sharma’s men in the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 at Oval in June. Next month, the baggy greens retained the Ashes urn before the ultimate moment came when Pat Cummins’ side silenced the entire nation of India by winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final and becoming a record 6-time world champion.
Now their aim will be to try and get their hands on the T20 World Cup title, something the Australians have won only once. It’s obvious that they will be very hungry to add another major silverware in their cabinet and for that, Josh Hazlewood becomes a very important factor.
“I Want To Play As Much As I Can Now And Then”, Josh Hazlewood Reveals The Plan During IPL Off-Time
While his captain (Cummins) and teammate Mitchell Starc will be enjoying their multi-million dollar deals with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024 from March to May, Hazlewood will not be heading to India after no franchise showed interest to buy him because of his condition to join the richest cricketing tournament after a month.
Therefore, Josh Hazlewood’s main aim will be to gain as much playing time as he can when Australia head over to New Zealand for a 3-match T20I and 2-match Test series. The Australians are going to line up with a full-strength squad for the T20I series against the Blackcaps, unlike their youth-filled squad against the West Indies.
“With missing IPL, I want to play as much as I can now and then put the feet up for April. I think it’ll be full strength for that New Zealand series, they’re a quality side in particular over there and the Test team looks outstanding as well. That’s going to be a tough couple of weeks over there in New Zealand,” Josh Hazlewood was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.