Last update: May 02, 2023, 5:56 p.m. HST
Josh Hazlewood played his first competitive match in almost four months. (Photo credit: Sportzpics)
Michael Clarke, one of the best strikers to ever play for Australia, thinks CA can’t say no to BCCI
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke can’t understand why Josh Hazlewood is playing IPL 2023 rather than sweating it out at home to prepare for the upcoming Test challenges, including the WTC final in June, followed by the all-important Ashes in England.
Hazlewood has sat out the first eight games for Royal Challengers Bangalore of the current season before getting their first taste of action against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night.
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Hazlewood, who was recovering from an Achilles injury which also prevented him from representing Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, produced an impressive display taking 2/15 from three overs.
However, Clarke believes playing IPL is not ideal preparation for red-ball cricket, especially for Hazlewood who has spent considerable time on the sidelines while recovering from injury.
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“I don’t know why he (Hazlewood) finished playing IPL. I don’t know why he’s not here in Australia preparing to play test match cricket,” Clarke said. Fox Sports.
“I know they will have people there, in the nets, he will be playing more than what the IPL players are playing, in preparation for test match cricket. But I just don’t know if the fact that he’s playing three overs, four overs right now is his best preparation for an Ashes series, after the injuries he’s had and the time he’s been out of the test of cricket,” he added.
Asked if Cricket Australia could withdraw their Test stars from competing in India, Clarke replied: “They can do that now. They can stop you from going there, but it’s India. Are you kidding? No one is saying no to India.”
Clarke then spoke about the workload of young all-rounder Cameron Green who plays for the five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians.
“We had the conversation about Cameron Green… is it in Cameron’s Green interest right now, with his body, with the Ashes series coming up, with how much cricket we have coming up, whether he’s there to play IPL? Or would he be better off taking four weeks of rest, recovery, rehab and starting a pre-season?” Clarke said.
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Clarke thinks that unless CA can match the lucrative offer Green has from IPL, there’s nothing they can do.
“Unless Cricket Australia says, ‘OK, the IPL just offered you $3m for eight weeks…we’ll pay you that $3m, you stay home and train with us’,” he said. there’s nothing they can do,” he said. .
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