Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood is doing something extraordinary in T20 cricket and we are seeing it unfold right before our eyes.
However, over the last two years, Hazlewood has refined his T20 skills. Instead of adding something extraordinary to his armour, he has retro-fitted his skills in test match cricket to the T20 format and is reaping the rewards for that.
He maintained an economy rate of 8.37 and made it a habit to pick wickets in the powerplay.
Hazlewood took 20 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 18.85 and an economy rate of 8.1.
The bowler has risen steeply in the ICC T20 bowlers rankings as well and currently sits at the top of the charts. It is amazing for a bowler who wasn't able to make it to the playing XI of his national side a couple of years ago to now rule the world in T20 cricket.
It has been a truly inspirational turnaround from the Australian quick.
Hazlewood is expected to play a crucial role for the side in the 2022 T20 World Cup as well which will be played in Australia. The bounce he extracts from the surface at around 140 kph will become more steep on the Australian surfaces and there are not many who know those conditions better than Hazlewood.
It will be interesting to see how some of the bog hitters like Jos Buttler and Rishabh Pant counter that and whether or not Hazlewood comes out on top yet again.