Josh Hazlewood pulls out of IPL after hectic Australian summer

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood has pulled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League after a hectic summer of cricket and a busy national schedule ahead.(Full Coverage| Fixtures)

The World Cup-winning pacer was retained by the Mumbai franchise at $ 100,000 contract for the 2015 season after
being bought in 2014, but Hazlewood decided to give this edition a miss.

“Josh’s workload has changed significantly since he first began attending the IPL,” Cricket Australia (CA) General  Manager of Team Performance Pat Howard was quoted as saying by cricket website on Thursday. After The Rohit Sharma-led side lost the IPL opener to defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on wednesday.

“The IPL is the players’ leave period and in Josh’s case it was deemed that not playing was the best use of that time
in the lead-up to a busy winter. This was agreed to with the IPL following discussions at the end of the Test series.”

Australia begin their two-match West Indies tour in May end and will play the first tour matchon May 27, three days before the IPL final.The West Indies series is immediately followed by the five-Test Ashes Series, starting in Cardiff on July 8.

The 24-year-old left-arm pacer made his presence felt on debut with a five-wicket haul against India during the second Test in Brisbane in December last year. He finished the summer as an opening bowler in Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign edging past speedster Pat Cummins.