Former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson is furious with Josh Hazlewood after Australia lost the WTC Finals to South Africa. Johnson claimed that Hazlewood's participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) after the delay has caused harm to Australia.
Johnson opined that Hazlewood's lack of preparation for the red-ball format played a huge role in their loss to the Proteas. In other news, South Africa defeated Australia at Lord's in the WTC Finals to lift their ICC title after 27 long years.
Mitchell Johnson questions Hazlewood's fitness
After the IPL 2025 was halted, it was speculated that Josh Hazlewood would stay back in Australia and not return to India. But that was not the case. Despite having some injury concerns, the pacer returned to India and played in the final few matches, and eventually, RCB lifted the IPL trophy.
"We've seen concerns about Hazlewood's fitness in recent years, and his decision to prioritise returning to the delayed Indian Premier League over his national team preparations raised eyebrows," he wrote in the West Australian.
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Mitchell Johnson was not at all happy with Hazlewood's performance. The latter managed to scalp just 2 wickets in the WTC Finals, where Australia were handed a 5-wicket loss.
"Our successful 'big four' bowling attack of Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon can't be taken for granted as a lock going forward either. If veteran players are sticking around just for the Ashes as a send-off, it does beg the question of whether that's the right mindset. It's crucial that we embrace the future and build confidence in selecting our next Test players," added Johnson.
Johnson further claimed that he doesn't want to be too critical towards the players. He claimed that youngsters like Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis and Scott Boland are not judged solely based on their performance in this game.
"Players on the fringe such as Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis and Scott Boland, despite being 36, have a different mentality. They're eager to prove themselves every time they get a chance. I'm not being overly critical of an ageing team which has achieved plenty together. Our established players including the senior bowling quartet, Usman Khawaja, (Steve) Smith and (Marnus) Labuschagne have achieved some great things," Johnson said.
