The Indian Premier League (IPL), over the years, has proved to be the breeding ground for young India talents and also turned out as the showcase event for a plethora of international cricketers.
Top notch-cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies and now England have featured in the event, since its inception in 2008.
Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood reckons that the two-month window for the IPL plays a ‘huge’ role in the plans for a cricketer every year.
Hazlewood was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL auctions held last year. The seamer was also included in the elaborate 26-man squad which is set to tour England.
Now, the New South Wales’ bowler has stated that he would be playing in the IPL rather than doing the yards in Australian domestic circuit.
“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,” Hazlewood told EspnCricinfo.
“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,” the 29-year old suggested.
The tentative window for the 2020 season of the IPL is chalked out in between September 26 to November 8, with the affirmative cancellation of the ICC T20 World Cup.
“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, We’ve built these loads up as fast bowlers then two weeks really hurts us coming into a summer of Test cricket,” Hazlewood concluded.
