'He has always had the skill' - Aaron Finch confident of Josh Hazlewood making it big at T20 World Cup

Australia’s white-ball skipper Aaron Finch believes that Josh Hazlewood will be at his best in the upcoming T20 World Cup as the experience and exposure that he has gained at the Indian Premier League have helped him transform his game. The pacer represented Chennai Super Kings before moving to Royal Challengers Bangalore this season and had a worthy outing.

The towering 31-year-old Hazlewood has been relied upon to keep scoring rates low in the final stages of innings. The pacer is currently the top-ranked T20I bowler as per ICC. The T20 World Cup this year begins in October and with just 100 days to go for the event, all teams would be working to build a strong squad.

“He has always had the skill. For such a long time his focus was just on Test cricket and he didn’t have a proper block of training to concentrate on T20 cricket. I think he got that in the lead-up to the last (T20) World Cup, while playing all 14 games for Chennai (Super Kings) plus a couple of finals in the IPL (also helped),” Finch was quoted by News 18.

Hazlewood was a part of CSK’s winning squad in the 2021 season as he played a total of nine games and scalped 11 wickets. In the 2022 IPL, while representing RCB, he played the role with perfection and managed to bag 20 wickets in just 12 games. Hazlewood has been a part of pressure games in the IPL playoffs and has got a hand in controlling the situation.

“His ability to upskill so quickly is not a surprise as he is highly skilled. How consistent he is and how efficient in all conditions has been remarkable, but not surprising,” Finch added while hinting that Hazlewood’s role in the upcoming World Cup would be crucial and something to look out for.

Spin is always going to have an impact on bigger grounds in Australia: Aaron Finch

Last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE was won by Australia and leg-spinner Adam Zampa deserves a lot of credit. Given that hitters will need to clear vast boundaries on expansive Australian grounds, Finch also stated that spin will have a significant impact in deciding which team takes home the coveted title. Australia will be hosting the event and would be looking to defend their title at home.

“Spin is always going to have an impact in T20 cricket especially on bigger grounds in Australia. Here you have got to hit it a hard way to get it to the boundary so I think spin will play a big part, especially in the middle overs. Wickets in middle overs are going to be crucial as well. All the stats suggest, if you are two down going into the final five overs it doesn’t matter who is bowling. You could have the best (bowler) of all time they are still going to cop some pain,” he stated.