Adam Gilchrist thinks Josh Hazlewood can be picked in Australia’s playing XI in T20 World Cup

Adam Gilchrist reckons the way Josh Hazlewood has performed for CSK in the recently finished IPL 2021, he should now be considered an option to be picked in the starting XI of Australia in the T20 World Cup.

Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are the two premier white-ball fast bowlers for Australia, and the Kangaroos are unlikely to go with a third specialist seamer in the playing XI in UAE conditions. They are expected to go with a couple of seam bowling all-rounders and a couple of spinners alongside Starc and Cummins.

Josh Hazlewood is currently the third choice fast bowler for Australia in T20 cricket after Starc and Cummins

However, Starc and Cummins didn’t feature in the second leg of IPL. Starc was not a part of the tournament altogether, while Cummins withdrew from the second leg of the tournament as his partner was pregnant. So, among all the fast bowlers that Australia has in the squad for T20 World Cup, Josh Hazlewood is the one who is acclimatized to the UAE conditions at the moment.

“Hazlewood is the one who has thrown his hand in the mix now to get a game. How they fit him in there and who they leave out is going to be interesting to see which way they go because it seems like the spinners need to be of paramount importance too,” Gilchrist said while talking to cricket.com.au.

Apart from Josh Hazlewood, another Australian player whose form was really good in the second leg of the IPL in the UAE was Glenn Maxwell, who scored heaps of runs for RCB. While Gilchrist hopes Maxwell carries his IPL form into the T20 World Cup as well, he also insists that Maxwell shouldn’t be overburdened with expectations.

According to Gilchrist, Maxwell is capable of making match-winning impact because the way he bats, it can be demoralizing for the opponents, but apart from him, there are other match-winners in the Australian set-up as well, and it’s not that if Maxwell doesn’t do well, Australia won’t do well.