Josh Hazlewood opts out of IPL

Australia’s seamer Josh Hazlewood who was set to play for Mumbai Indians has pulled out of IPL to stay fresh for the upcoming West Indies tour and Ashes defence later this season.

Hazlewood is the second player who has opted out of IPL after Kane Richardson, keeping in mind the tight international schedule ahead.

“Josh’s workload has changed significantly since he first began attending the IPL,” Pat Howard, general manager of Team Performance said, “The IPL is the players’ leave period and in Josh’s case it was deemed that not playing was the best use of that time in the lead up to a busy winter. This was agreed to with the IPL authorities following discussions at the end of the Test series.”

Australia begins their West Indies tour with their first game in Antigua, starting May 27, three days after the IPL final. The teams face off in a two-Test series, which will be followed by the Ashes, beginning with the first Test in Cardiff on July 8.

Although Josh Hazlewood wasn’t a permanent member of the playing XI in the first few matches of the world cup, but he grabbed his opportunities with both hands playing all the matches after the group stage and was a key to Australia’s success in the world cup. He picked 7 wickets from in the world cup at an excellent economy of 4.10. He didn’t play in Mumbai Indian’s opener against Kolkata Knight Riders which they lost. The likes of Lasith Malinga, Corey Anderson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar won’t make his absence felt much.