India's B Team can sometimes be stronger than India's A team, claims Josh Hazlewood

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has hailed India's overall depth in cricket by saying that India's B Team can sometimes be stronger than the A team.

Hazlewood claimed that India has 'unbelievable' depth in their ranks which helps to field a good team despite injury concerns.

During India's last tour of Australia, several players from the touring side kept getting injured. The injury concerns were in almost every match but the Men in Blue did not lose heart and kept on fighting.

Despite not being able to field the best players due to injuries, India emerged victorious in the end with a 2-1 margin.

Josh Hazlewood was part of that series and knows very well what any Indian side can do on its day. He is keen to prove himself this time around and is determined to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.

Also read: Kraigg Brathwaite makes a shockingly happy statement after losing the Test series to South Africa

"We should pretty much win every series here at home" Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood mentioned that many players in the Australian team have never been on a winning side in a Test series against India. He backed Australia to win the series in home conditions.

"There are quite a few players who have never beaten India in a Test series. It's quite astounding to say that. That's one we need to tick off, definitely, in particular at home - we should pretty much win every series here at home,” Hazlewood said.

India's B Team can sometimes be stronger than India's A team, claims Josh Hazlewood

Hazlewood remembers the time when Australia bowled out India for just 36 runs in the first Test at Adelaide of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar series.

But India came back strongly to give a fitting reply to the Aussies. The fast bowler further mentioned that India's B team can sometimes be stronger than the A team due to the depth of Indian cricket.

"That last series we obviously bowled them out for 36 in Adelaide and we thought here we go, [we are] back at home [and] confident on these grounds. People say we played India B in that last Test, but they can sometimes be stronger than the best team. They've got unbelievable depth in all formats and we are starting to see that now," Hazlewood stated.

India have won all the last four series in Border-Gavaskar Trophy by an identical margin of 2-1. Out of these four series, two were played at home while two were played away. The two series which were played in Australia were during 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Josh Hazlewood's record in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia

In the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Josh Hazlewood picked up 13 wickets in four Tests at an average of 30.61. Meanwhile, in the 2020-21 series between these two teams, Hazlewood picked up 17 wickets in four Tests at an average of 19.35.

India and Australia are currently the top two teams in the World Test Championship (WTC) table. Both will be aiming to produce good results in the upcoming Australia-India series and push their case for the WTC final to be held next year.

Australia are the defending champions of the WTC having beaten India in the final last time around.