IPL 2020 News: Josh Hazlewood expresses minor concerns over COVID-19 outbreak at CSK

Josh Hazlewood: The Australian fast bowler is currently in England and will be flying to UAE for his maiden stint in the Indian Premier League.

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood considers rookie English players as the ones to look out for ahead of their six-match white-ball series starting from September 4.

“I think it’s a few of the new guys that I haven’t seen a great deal of. Tommy [Tom] Banton, I know I’ve seen [Dawid] Malan but he’s in the runs again,” Hazlewood told reporters from Southampton where the Australian team is training in a bio-secure bubble.

Hazlewood, 29, lauded England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan especially after his match-winning 14th T20I half-century against Pakistan last night. Hazlewood also appreciated the southpaw for leading a white-ball team which has “all bases covered”.

“Eoin Morgan just runs a really good ship in the white-ball stuff and everyone knows their roles, their confidence is always high, they always win a lot of games of cricket so they’re pretty confident.

“They’ve got all bases covered in white-ball cricket and we’re probably seeing a bit more depth this year with having to have different players in each squad. They had a good chase against Pakistan [in the second T20I]. They know their roles and their white-ball teams are as good as ever,” Hazlewood said.

Josh Hazlewood expresses minor concerns over COVID-19 outbreak at CSK

After the tour of England, Hazlewood will fly to UAE for the 13th season of the Indian Premier League. Bought by Chennai Super Kings for his base price of INR 2 crore, this will be Hazlewood’s maiden stint in the cash-rich league.

While he was involved with Mumbai Indians in 2015, he withdrew from the tournament even before it started. With two players and some staff members testing positive for COVID-19 at CSK, Hazlewood expresses minor concerns regarding receiving those updates.

“We have a group WhatsApp with all the information that comes through, it’s obviously a little bit of a concern. Ideally you’d have no cases, they are in quarantine now and I think that finishes up in next few days. All my focus is on this tour at the moment and when the IPL comes closer we’ll think about that,” Hazlewood added.

Being asked about having a conversation with Cricket Australia about the same, Hazlewood denied but didn’t completely ruled out that scenario especially if the cases continue to mount up in the UAE.

“We haven’t spoken too much about it yet, it’s a few weeks away until we get there. I assume those things will come up if cases are still happening closer to the date, then we’ll touch base with Cricket Australia and have a chat,” Hazlewood further added.

The right-arm bowler is a part of Australia’s 21-member squad for three ODIs and as many T20Is. Having last played a T20I during the ICC World Twenty20 2016, it will be difficult for Hazlewood to make a cut into the T20I team. However, he should be leading opening the bowling in ODIs against England.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More