In Saturday’s Super 12s opener against South Africa, the Australian pacer showcased how much the Chennai Super Kings stint helped him keep his rhythm going and get the hang of the conditions in the United Arabic Emirates.
There were suggestions from outside that Australia would be dropping Josh Hazlewood to play a combination of two pacers and two spinners. But the team from Down Under stuck to one of their leading quicks and he repaid the trust with an impactful spell against the South Africans.
The CSK pacer was on fire from the very beginning and got two of South Africa’s best batters – Quinton de Kock (7) and Rassie van der Dussen (2) – out cheaply through his pivotal spell of 2/19 in a low-scoring fixture that Australia eventually won by five wickets.
The pacer was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ for his exploits on the day and he stressed how an early understanding of the nature of the track and the lengths he needed to bowl and avoid paid rich dividends for him.
“I think length was the key, hitting the right length, just on top of the stumps. Anything slightly short or fuller seemed easy, so the length was key,”
“The wicket seemed reasonably good, but it was a little bit stoppy, a little bit slow. It plays that way during the day and gets easier at night.”
he was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Considered third in the pecking order to Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins by many, Hazlewood looked the most prepared of the Aussie quicks for the first game of the T20 World Cup, thanks to the stint with the Super Kings.
In the second half of the IPL 2021, a number of tall pacers, with their ability to nail the hard lengths on uneven decks, did exceedingly well. Hazlewood was no different as he picked up 11 wickets from his nine games with an economy rate of 8.37. He was instrumental to CSK’s revival and an inspiring title-winning campaign.
During the second half of the IPL 2021 as well, the 30-year- had spoken of the importance of getting his length right for the surfaces across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Hazlewood interestingly said the knack of bowling the “Test match length” worked really well for him while playing for CSK.
“I think it [Test-match] length can work at certain times and the batter is probably going to use his feet or get deep in the crease or try something. You got to sort of be ready for that and try and pre-empt that I guess,”
the pacer told Star Sports.
As Australia began poorly in their run-chase against the Proteas and slipped to 38/3, it seemed that the game may just run away from them before Steve Smith came to their rescue. However, the latter’s departure thereafter reopened the doors for the national team, and that, many felt, is the point when South Africa are favourites now.
But Hazlewood said even then, Australia were confident of securing a win because of their all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who made a crucial 16-ball 24 to take his team to the win. In the first half, another all-round cricketer Glenn Maxwell bowled a tight spell of 1/24 off his four overs to play his part in restricting South Africa down to 118/9.
“We’ve got a number of all-rounders and Maxi [Glen Maxwell] was the man today to bowl the four. It sort of got close in the end but we’ve got finishers and we were confident in them,” the pacer concluded.
