Hazlewood responds to Johnson's criticism of choosing IPL over national duty: 'I think it was comfortably...'

Josh Hazlewood has responded to Mitchell Johnson’s criticism of choosing the Indian Premier League over Australia ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final against South Africa earlier this month. Australian pace legend Johnson had questioned Hazlewood’s decision to playing in the final stretch of the 18th IPL season that had been put on a week-long hold due to a military conflict between India and Pakistan.

“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,” Johnson had written in his column for The West Australian.

Playing in the IPL was ideal practice for WTC final, argues Hazlewood

Hazlewood, however, has stated that the “intense competition” that he faced while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru gave him the ideal preparation for the ICC World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s earlier this month.

“I haven’t seen any of that, to be honest,” Hazlewood was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald as saying in response to Johnson’s comment.

“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.

“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. 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,” he added.

Hazlewood’s participation in the remaining IPL matches was doubtful due to a shoulder injury that he had sustained earlier in the season, which forced him to miss a couple of games.

However, while Australian pace colleague Mitchell Starc opted against rejoining the Delhi Capitals team in India for the IPL restart with the WTC final-bound South Africans also flying out before the start of the playoffs, Hazlewood chose to return after recovering from his shoulder niggle back home and stayed till the end.

And the ‘Bendemeer Bullet’ ended up playing a key role in helping RCB end an 18-year jinx and win their maiden IPL title with back-to-back victories over Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 as well as in the final.

Hazlewood’s decision to continue playing in the IPL, however, had come under the scanner after South Africa defeated Australia by five wickets in the grand finale at Lord’s to be crowned world Test champions – winning their maiden world title in the process and ending a 27-year wait for an ICC trophy.