32:Alex Hales Twitter/@ThunderBBL
After star CSK pacer Josh Hazlewood pulled out of the upcoming edition of IPL, the fans are demanding the side to rope in English batsman Alex Hales. Notably, Hazlewood decided to skip the mega event this year and opted not to take the flight today (Thursday) with rest of Australia's IPL-bound players. However, the fans now want to see Hales joining the three-time champions in the absence of the right-arm pacer.
Though opening batsman Hales, who went unsold at the IPL 2021 Auction, cannot be a like replacement for speedster Hazlewood, the fans still want the Englishman to join the CSK camp.
Here is some of the tweets:
The demand for the inclusion of Hales is so high among the fans that there are even rumours that CSK have signed the batsman for the upcoming edition.
However, as per the latest reports available, no such decision has been made yet. “We haven’t decided anything on Josh Hazlewood’s replacement. We are yet to discuss it,” said CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan as quoted by WION.
It is worth noting that 32-year old Alex Hales was the highest run-scorer in the BBL 2020-21 season. He amassed 543 runs for the Sydney Thunder across 15 matches at an average of 38.78, hitting one century and three fifties. Despite that the star batter went unsold at IPL 2021 Auction. His base price was INR 1.5 crore. Talking about his IPL career, Hales played 6 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018 and scored 148 runs at an average of 24.66.