Josh Hazlewood willing to sacrifice playing for NSW for the IPL

With cricket slowly waking up to the new reality in a COVID-19 era, players and administrators alike are being forced to adapt. Players are having to ensure they stick to tight quarantine and safety guidelines. Many players playing multiple formats and taking up assignments around the globe means the situation becomes even more complicated with non-uniformity of safety norms among countries depending upon the intensity of the pandemic.

Josh Hazlewood, who has earned a gig with the Chennai Super Kings for the 2020 season of the IPL, acknowledges these challenges. Hazlewood, who is also a mainstay in the Australian Test bowling line-up, is expected back in the Australian setup at least two weeks before their season premiere against Afghanistan in Perth to undergo quarantine. However, that would imply him having to possibly miss the final week of the IPL if the rumoured dates for the tournament are to be believed.

Hazlewood feels that he only needs one warm-up game to be ready for a Test match, and believes that allowing players to train during their quarantine could result in an amicable solution. "As long as we can train during that period it will be okay, it's if we come back and we can't train during that two-week period," he said. "We've built these loads up as fast bowlers then two weeks really hurts us coming into the summer of Test cricket.

"As far as red-ball cricket goes I feel I only need one, maximum two games, to get ready for a Test. There have been summers where we've come from a white-ball tour and only played one [red-ball game] and it's been fine. Everyone is a bit different, some guys need a bit more bowling and some less but we'll try to get that balance right.”

Players from across the world have improved their skill sets and advanced their careers from playing in the IPL. Hazlewood believes taking the trip to India would be a valuable experience. "There are a few things to fall into place yet but the IPL is such a huge part of the year for a lot of players and probably the strongest T20 competition in the world, up there with the Big Bash, and you learn a lot about how to play your T20 cricket and how to play in those conditions," said the Aussie fast bowler. "You've seen guys come out of it much better players so there's a lot of positives to it, so if that takes a few games off us playing for New South Wales in the build-up to the international summer that's a tough call, [and] probably comes back to the individual.”

[Cricinfo inputs]