Josh Hazlewood Reflects on Injury Setbacks and Recovery Struggles

Australian ace pacer Josh Hazlewood reflected on his injury setback, describing how he aggravated it in trying to make a comeback quicker. He said injuries should be managed carefully, otherwise, it could bring plenty of difficulties for cricketers like him.

"Any professional athlete who's been injured knows what it takes to get back. Some are harder than others. This time around, it was obviously quite a long time out of the game. Just a few things crept in, I think mostly through probably trying to rush back a little bit, trying to make it to the fourth or fifth Ashes Test or the World Cup.” said Josh Hazlewood.

"So you learn stuff every time you're injured and it's probably just about respecting that time frame or that return to play, the time that it takes to get back." added Josh Hazlewood.

Speaking about the preparation for T20 matches, he said the format does not require lengthy training sessions, but a precise intensity that can deliver results in the game.

"For T20, your volume doesn't have to be huge at training, it's just reaching that intensity that the game demands out in the middle. That's probably the biggest thing to tick off at training in the last four weeks leading into this tournament, which I felt like I did as best I could. But once you're out there in the middle of a huge crowd, guys hitting you for six every ball, the intensity goes up a lot." said Josh Hazlewood.

Hazlewood then described his T20 bowling plans, saying he tries to mix things up to keep the batters guessing.

"I probably don't have a great slower ball, so it's just about trying to confuse the batter as best I can, whether that's showing it and bowling it or showing it and not bowling it. So it's a little bit of cat and mouse out there as it always is with the batsmen," said Josh Hazlewood.