Australian Pacer Josh Hazlewood revealed that he is close to achieving his 100% fitness ahead of the all-important World Test Championship final against India, starting on June 7 at the Oval in London. The 32-year-old played only three matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023 due to his injury concerns.
Hazlewood has been dealing with injuries for a while, and he hasn’t played any cricket since he sustained an Achilles injury during the SCG Test and returned to competitive cricket in the latter stages of the IPL. The RCB pacer is racing to achieve full fitness ahead of WTC Final.
Speaking to the ICC, The Australian pacer believes that his fitness is good and feels that it is important for him to build up closely in every practice session. The Baggy Green’s pacer admitted that he wasn’t at his best in the IPL and reckons that the last few spells by him RCB give him the confidence of building up to the WTC final.
“My fitness is pretty good, It is just a matter of ticking off every session from here until that date basically.
“In T20 you are bowling a lot of various balls every over. A wide yorker to a bouncer to a slower ball, and [the side] just got jammed up a little bit and a bit of scar tissue from previous injuries flared up. It calmed down pretty quickly. I had a week off, I didn’t quite get back to going 100 percent at [the] IPL, but the last few bowls have been good and I have been building up nicely,” Josh Hazlewood said.
The fitness of key pacer Josh Hazlewood has been a concern for Australia ahead of a busy schedule of cricket that consists of the ICC World Test Championship final against India and five Ashes Tests. The Right-arm pacer is excepted to play a vital role for his side alongside skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the bowling department.
It Is Such A Dense Schedule, It Is Tough – Josh Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood admitted that it would be difficult for him to play all six matches in the summer, as it would be hard for him to come back from the injury, and reckons that team has got enough pacers in the team to step up for the side and said that they can get couple pacers in the team if required, who are playing county championship in England.