IPL 2021: CSK Pacer Josh Hazlewood Pulls Out of Tournament
IPL 2021: Chennai Super Kings' Josh Hazlewood joins fellow Australians — Royal Challenger Bangalore's Josh Phillipe and Sunrisers Hyderabad's Mitchell Marsh — in pulling out of the tournament.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Josh Hazlewood has pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). The lanky Aussie pacer has withdrawn from the global T20 cricketing extravaganza due to the constant challenging life in the bio-secure bubble environment.
He has opted out of IPL 2021 to prepare for the upcoming Sheffield Shield season and also to spend time with his family.
“It’s been a long 10 months in bubbles and quarantine at different times, so I decided to have a rest from cricket and spend some time at home and in Australia in the next two months. We’ve got a big winter ahead too.
The West Indies is going to be a long tour, with Bangladesh (T20 tour) potentially thrown on the end of that. Then potentially the T20 World Cup leading into the Ashes, so it’s a big 12 months, as it always is with Australia, and I want to give myself the best chance to be mentally and physically ready for that. That’s the decision I’ve made, and it sits pretty well with me,”Hazlewood said.
Hazlewood is the third Australian player after Joshua Phillipe (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers Hyderabad) to have withdrawn from IPL this season.
Australia are scheduled to play three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches in the West Indies in June and July before heading to Bangladesh in October for three warm-up matches ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in India.
IPL 2021 is slated to commence on April 9 with defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) locking horns in the tournament opener. CSK will play its first match on April 10 against Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
