“It was nice to have a hit out” - Josh Hazlewood reflects on his impressive comeback

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fast bowler Josh Hazlewood asserted that it felt good to play a game of competitive cricket after being on the sidelines for a few months due to injury and fitness issues.

The pacer was initially named in the Australian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. However, after being sidelined for the first two Tests due to an Achilles injury, he was subsequently ruled out of the entire series.

On Monday, May 1, Hazlewood made a comeback, representing RCB against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. It was an impressive return for the 32-year-old as he claimed 2/15 in three overs.

In a post-match press conference, Hazlewood shared his thoughts on his comeback and said:

“The body’s feeling pretty good. It was nice to have a hit out in the middle tonight [Monday]. It’s just so different playing in a game compared to training. The Achilles is feeling pretty good. Obviously only bowled three overs and fielded the 20, so tonight was a little stepping stone further down the track.”

The pace bowler got the wickets of Ayush Badoni and Naveen-ul-Haq as RCB successfully defended a total of 126.

Hazlewood’s fitness is crucial for Australia, keeping the upcoming Ashes in mind.

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“It started in Siraj’s first over” - Hazlewood credits pace for setting the tone with the ball

While RCB only put up 126 on the board batting first, Hazlewood stated that the team knew they were still in the game owing to the nature of the surface. He said that the early wicket from Mohammed Siraj gave them the momentum and other bowlers built on it.

The Aussie quick commented:

“It started in Siraj’s first over. I think a wicket and one run offered. It was a great start and we sort of jumped on the back of that. I think at half-time we knew we were still in the game; it was a tough wicket to bat on.

“We knew that we had to bowl them out to win the game. If they had seven-eight batters bat the 20 overs, they were going to get 130 runs. It was all about attacking and taking wickets.”

Defending a low score, Siraj sent back Kyle Mayers for a duck in the first over. LSG could never recover from the early jolt and were bowled out for 108.