Josh Hazlewood withdraws from Indian Premier League

New Delhi: Australia's World Cup winning pace bowler Josh Hazlewood has opted out of the 2015 edition of the Indian Premier League. According to reports, the 24-year-old has taken the decision to leave the cash-rich league to give himself enough chance to play in the summer's Ashes series and Frank Worrell Trophy in the winter.

Hazlewood was retained by the Mumbai Indians after being bought in 2014. The left-handed bowler did not play in MI's defeat to defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders' yesterday.

Cricket Australia's official website cited General Manager of Team Performance Pat Howard confirming, “Josh's workload has changed significantly since he first began attending the IPL. The IPL is the players leave period and in Josh's case it was deemed that not playing was the best use of that time in the lead up to a busy winter. This was agreed to with the IPL following discussions at the end of the Test Series.”