‘ChePu Josh, what happened?’ - CSK churns out humour after Twitterati reckon Cheteshwar Pujara forced Josh Hazlewood to back out of IPL 2021

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be crucial for the three-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as they will be looking forward to putting the demons of the past season to rest and again prove their dominance in the T20 extravaganza. However, ahead of the highly-anticipated league, the franchise has been dealt with a massive blow as their ace pacer Josh Hazlewood has pulled out of IPL 2021.

The 30-year-old doesn’t want to enter another bio-bubble and wants to keep himself fresh for jam-packed Australia’s cricket calendar that also includes two marquee events in the form of the Ashes and the T20 World Cup. Josh entered the bubble in August last year for Australia’s tour of England followed by IPL 2020 and the two-month-long India’s tour of Australia.

“It’s been a long 10 months in bubbles and quarantine at different times, so I decided to have a rest from cricket and spend some time at home and in Australia in the next two months. We’ve got a big winter ahead too. The West Indies is going to be a long tour, with Bangladesh (T20 tour) potentially thrown on the end of that,” said Hazlewood.

Ever since the pace sensation has announced his decision not to travel to India for IPL 2021, Twitter has been flooded with memes and trolls with many people coming up with hilarious reasons for the same. Many cricket fans took a jibe at Hazlewood saying that the thought of facing Cheteshwar Pujara in the nets frightened him.

The tweets were also read by the Super Kings and they also took a cheeky dig by posting a picture of Pujara with the caption, “ChePu Josh, what happened?#WhistlePodu #Yellove”

CSK yet to name a replacement for Josh Hazlewood

Meanwhile, CSK are yet to come to a conclusion regarding who can be a potential replacement for the Australian pacer. Speaking about the sudden exit of Hazlewood, a CSK official asserted that the team wasn’t prepared for the blow but they have all their bases covered and won’t face any problem.

“It is a sudden development and we were not prepared for it. We will look at various options before arriving at a decision. But we have our bases covered. So if the team management feels we don’t need a replacement, we might not seek one,” the official said.