Dubai: Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood says getting sufficient game time in the just-concluded IPL in the UAE was "perfect" preparation for the T20 World Cup and could stand him in good stead in the showpiece.
The 30-year-old returned to the IPL even as pace colleagues Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Kane Richardson opted out of the second leg of the lucrative league and remained at home.
"That was my thinking going in," Hazlewood, who plays for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, was quoted as saying by Australian media.
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"Conditions, the elements here - it's quite hot - and just getting a run of games of T20 cricket leading into the World Cup. It's been perfect."
Having been part of CSK's triumphant campaign, he has now linked up with the national squad in Abu Dhabi.
Hazelwood, who has a fair knowledge of the conditions and slow nature of the pitches in the UAE, has played more T20 games in the past six months than he had in the previous six years, thanks partly to leagues such as the IPL.