Josh Hazlewood To Miss First Half Of IPL 2024

image-lqaxxfh4Josh Hazlewood in action during IPL 2023 (IPLT20.COM)

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the first half of next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) season, as confirmed by Cricket Australia. Last month, the 32-year-old was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise, and is currently up for grabs at the IPL 2024 auction.

Cricket Australia confirms player’s availability

Cricket Australia has ensured full availability of all their players to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for next year’s IPL 2024 season, except for pace maverick Josh Hazlewood. As per a report from Cricbuzz, the Australian speedster will only be available for the high-octane T20 competition from the first week of May.

Several Australian players will also be slated to play Sheffield Shield Cricket for their respective domestic teams around the same time frame, however, the cricket board has claimed that those cricketers will have the option to choose IPL over the domestic competition.

Josh Hazlewood, who represented the RCB in the last two IPL seasons, was released by the franchise in November 2023 on retention day. Newly-appointed head coach Andy Flower confirmed that the team management decided to release Hazlewood due to the anticipated birth of his child in March. Taking to RCB’s official social media platforms, Flower said:

“Josh Hazlewood…very pleasingly, has a baby on the way, due in March. So Josh won’t be with us, certainly not for the first half of the season.”

Apart from Cricket Australia, cricket boards from South Africa, Afghanistan, West Indies and New Zealand have also given their full approvals of player’s participation by clearing up their schedule, while England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka cricket boards have only given conditional approval for IPL 2024 participation of their players.