'The more the merrier' - Hazlewood calls for more allrounders in Ashes XI

Josh Hazlewood says he is bowling as well as he ever has in white-ball cricket, but he's urged Australia's selectors to pick as many allrounders as possible for the Ashes as his attention turns to Sheffield Shield cricket after a stunning T20I performance against India at the MCG.

Hazlewood returned Test-match type figures of 3 for 13 from four overs to rip through India's top-order and help Australia claim a 1-0 series lead with three games to go.

But Hazlewood will now leave Australia's squad to prepare for a Shield match against Victoria starting November 10, which will be his last game before the first Ashes Test on November 21.

The injury to Pat Cummins has highlighted Hazlewood's importance heading into the Ashes series and he has been repeatedly asked if he can get through five Tests against England after going down with injury in each of the only two Tests he played last summer.

Hazlewood was asked about the importance of the allrounders in the Test side as debate rages over whether Australia can fit both Cameron Green and Beau Webster in the same top six. But Hazlewood said the allrounders were vital.

"First player picked [should be] an allrounder, I think," Hazlewood said after his Player of the Match effort on Friday. "Going back to those 20-odd Test matches we played with no allrounder, they were hard yards. So if [they] can be in the team, be it bowling, [Ca Green] Greeny is obviously an outstanding player, Beau has done great for us whenever he's played. The more the merrier, I say. They can bowl as much as they want."

Hazlewood's recent white-ball form has been sublime. Unlike Mitchell Starc, who has retired from T20I cricket and also skipped the ODI series against South Africa in August to have a long break from bowling, Hazlewood made a conscious decision with the selection panel and CA's medical staff to play as much as he possibly could throughout the winter. A significant break in the winter of 2024 led to side and calf injuries for Hazlewood that saw him miss five Tests, the Champions Trophy and half the IPL.

The decision to keep bowling is paying dividends at the moment having got through the second half of the IPL, four winter Tests, T20I and ODI series against South Africa, T20Is against New Zealand, ODIs against India and now two T20Is against India. But he says he won't know if it is the right one until the end of the Ashes.

"Everything's going swimmingly now," Hazlewood said. "I think I can't really say if it's worked perfectly until probably after the summer. If I get through everything, it's probably the template moving forward, to put myself in the best position to play as many games as possible. Still resting the odd one here and there, if it doesn't sort of match up with travel or turnarounds and stuff like that."

While Australia's squad fly to Hobart on Saturday ahead of Sunday's third T20I before heading north to Queensland for the last two matches on the Gold Coast and Brisbane next Thursday and Saturday respectively, Hazlewood will head home to Sydney to rest before playing for New South Wales against Victoria in a Shield game at the SCG that starts on November 10.

"The next week, I'll just probably get in the gym a couple of times," Hazlewood said. "Don't really need to bowl a hell of a lot, probably later in the week with the Shield game starting Monday week at home. So it will be a little bit of a de-load the next few days, and then go again. So things are good."

India opener Abhishek Sharma could not hide the joy on his face when he was informed in the press conference that Hazlewood would miss the final three games of the T20I series after he had tormented India's batters across the tour to-date.

"Oh, is he? I didn't know this," Abhishek said.

"I was watching him in the ODIs as well. We knew that he's going to give us this much difficulty and challenges. So obviously, the way he bowled today, even I got surprised.

"I haven't seen something like this in T20s. It was something new for me as well, because I'm a batter that wants to dominate. But when I was seeing on the other side how he's bowling, and even to me it seems like he had a plan and he was just executing it."