Former Australian player Mitchell Johnson was not pleased with Josh Hazlewood's choice to return to the postponed 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), thereby foregoing his preparations for the World Test Championship final against South Africa. After Australia was defeated by five wickets in four days at Lord's and failed to defend the WTC crown, Hazelwood was condemned for his action.

According to reports, Hazlewood was not likely to reunite with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the last portion of the IPL 2025, which had been paused for nearly a week due to the India-Pakistan conflict. He believed that an injury should be addressed with the WTC final upcoming, although there were some worries about it. Nonetheless, he did come back to India for the last few games.

In his West Australian column, Johnson criticized Hazlewood for the choice, claiming it had an impact on his performance in the WTC final, where he only took two wickets. The former cricketer urged severe measures as well, suggesting that the Australian selectors should consider whether or not to pick such players. "We've seen concerns about Hazlewood's fitness in recent years, and his decision to prioritize returning to the delayed Indian Premier League over his national team preparations raised eyebrows," he stated.

"We can't assume that our effective 'big four' bowling lineup of Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon will be set in stone moving ahead. It does raise the question of whether veteran players are in the right frame of mind if they are staying on solely for the Ashes as a farewell. "It's essential that we welcome the future and instill confidence in choosing our next Test players," Johnson said.

Johnson acknowledged that he is not attempting to be "overly critical," but he wants the selectors to provide fair opportunities to players such as Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis, and Scott Boland.

"Players on the fringe, like Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis, and Scott Boland, who is 36, have a different mindset." They are always excited to demonstrate their worth whenever they have the opportunity. I'm not being excessively harsh on an older team that has accomplished a lot together. Johnson stated, "Our established players, like the senior bowling quartet, Usman Khawaja, (Steve) Smith, and (Marnus) Labuschagne, have accomplished some amazing things."

"When the appropriate moment is to make some difficult decisions is something that must be considered. The upcoming three-Test Windies tour appears to be a fantastic chance to allow deserving players to shine, and Smith's finger injury may have the silver lining of encouraging some regeneration. Locating an expert No. 3 is essential, and it's difficult to argue that Labuschagne should be relocated there given the form he has displayed over the past 18 months. "I don't believe the selectors will take the chance of altering all three of the top batting positions at the same time," he stated.

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