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Australian veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood has reacted to former speedster Mitchell Johnson’s comments about prioritizing the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Following the conclusion of the WTC final, Mitchell Johnson launched a scathing attack on Hazlewood, criticizing the pacer’s fitness and his decision to participate in the IPL, which was temporarily suspended for a week due to rising India-Pakistan tensions.
“We’ve seen concerns about Hazlewood’s fitness in recent years, and his decision to prioritise returning to the delayed Indian Premier League over his national team preparations raised eyebrows,” Mitchell Johnson remarked.
Now, the veteran pacer has replied to Johnson’s comments, noting that the IPL was the best preparatory ground for the WTC final.
“I haven’t seen any of that, to be honest,” Josh Hazlewood said when asked about Mitchell Johnson’s criticism.
“We know what’s going on inside our rooms. It seemed far and away the best place to get ready for any type of cricket that was coming up. The weather was definitely a factor as well. Just getting over there and playing intense competition like that, it’s hard to replicate in training,” he added.
Josh Hazlewood further emphasized the weather in Australia while stating that India was the best place to bowl under the circumstances.
“Sydney, it was raining and I had literally nowhere to bowl. I got to Brisbane for three or four days and it was very wet. We were lucky to get on. I just thought the best place to bowl was India,” he said.
“We were still in the competition, we were going to play semis, and I was going to be there for 10 days. I think it was comfortably the best option,” the right-arm pacer concluded.
For context, South Africa defeated Australia by five wickets in the WTC final, clinching their maiden title.
The defending champions’ bowling quartet could not rise to the occasion in the second essay while defending a 282-run target.
Josh Hazlewood, who was pivotal in the Royal Challengers Bangalore maiden IPL triumph, could only manage to claim two scalps in the all-important WTC final.
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