Hazlewood's IPL stints a huge plus for Australia going into T20 WC: Aaron Finch

MELBOURNE: Australia captain Aaron Finch feels pace bowler Josh Hazlewood's grounding in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will help the quick excel in the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to commence in 100 days' time Down Under.

Finch also added that spin will play a big role in deciding which team wins the prestigious trophy, given that batters will have to clear long boundaries on big Australian grounds.

Australia have relied upon the tall 31-year-old Hazlewood to keep the scoring rate low at the backend of an innings. The pacer now occupies the top spot on the ICC T20 bowler rankings.

After a couple of seasons for Chennai Super Kings, Hazlewood was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the mega auction and he played a key role in the franchise's superb run this season, taking 20 wickets in 12 games.

"He has always had the skill," said Finch. "For such a long time his focus was just on Test cricket and he didn't have a proper block of training to concentrate on T20 cricket. I think he got that in the lead-up to the last (T20) World Cup, while playing all 14 games for Chennai (Super Kings) plus a couple of finals in the IPL (also helped)."

Hazlewood played nine games and took 11 wickets in CSK's IPL 2021 title-winning run in the UAE. IANS

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