'I don't know why he's over playing IPL', Michael Clarke wants Hazlewood to focus on preparing for Ashes

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke is not pleased with Josh Hazlewood's decision to compete in the ongoing IPL 2023 as he believes the pacer should be focusing on preparing for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes.

After being out of action for nearly four months due to Achilles injury, Hazlewood had a successful comeback to cricketing action as he bowled three overs for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and returned with impressive figures of 2/15.

Hazelwood sustained an Achilles injury during a Test match in Sydney in January and has since not featured in any format of the game.

He was initially selected for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India but was headed back home midway through the series to continue his rehabilitation from an Achilles complaint.

With his return to IPL, Hazlewood will begin his attempt to demonstrate his physical readiness for Australia's upcoming six-Test tour of England, which includes the World Test Championship Final and the Ashes.

The 32-year-old was one of only four specialist pacemen named in the Aussies' squad for the first half of their campaign in England.

While national selectors were pleased that Hazlewood used the IPL to build up his bowling loads, Clarke believes that the pacer should be in Australia and concentrate on red-ball cricket.

"I don't know why he's over playing IPL. I don't know why he's not over here in Australia preparing to play Test match cricket," Clarke was quoted by Fox Cricket.

"I know they'll have people over there, in the nets he'll be bowling more than what the IPL players are bowling, in preparation for Test match crick
"But I just don't know if him bowling three overs, four overs right now is his best preparation for an Ashes series, after the injuries he's had and the amount of time he's had out of Test cricket.

"It's great to see him back playing, there's no doubt about it... but for Australian Test cricket fans, you want to see him at his best for this Ashes series," Clarke said.

Clarke further stressed that a significant amount of money associated with the IPL would make it difficult for players to refuse the chance to participate in the tournament. He was unsure whether Cricket Australia should have intervened and prevented Hazlewood from participating in the T20 tournament.

"They can do it now. They can stop you going. But it's India. Are you kidding? No-one is saying no to India," he said.

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"Unless Cricket Australia are going to say, 'OK the IPL has just offered you $3 million for eight weeks... we'll pay you that $3 million you stay home and train with us,' there's nothing they can do," he added.