'Saw Cracks In Team India...' - Josh Hazlewood's Huge Remark Ahead Of World Cup Final

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood revealed that he has seen a ‘few cracks’ in the Indian team while he was rattling their top order in the league stage encounter. However, he believes that Tem India in this World Cup has no ‘real weaknesses’.

Australia, who lost the league-stage clash against India in Chennai by six wickets after reducing the Men In Blue to 3/2 in the second over, will be against the formidable hosts for the title showdown. They booked their place in the finals with a nervy three-wicket win over South Africa at Eden Gardens on Thursday.

India defeated Australia by 2-1 in a three-match ODI series right before the commencement of the World Cup. They again defeated the Aussies in the league stage encounter and now will face them in the finals of the megaevent.

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“We got one in the series, lost that 2-1, but no, we’ve played them a lot of times. We know them inside out, same with them. They’re a quality team, they’ve been on a march the whole tournament, no real weaknesses in their team, so, yeah, look forward to playing them on Sunday,” Hazlewood said.

The pacer added, “I guess we saw a few cracks when we played them in Chennai chasing a small target, we were lucky enough to get a couple early.” India bowled out Australia for 199 in their first game of the World Cup.

Josh Hazlewood Rattles South Africa In The Semi-Finals

The final will be a repeat of the 2003 World Cup final where Ricky Ponting-led Australia won the game onesided as India looked completely clueless chasing a massive target of 360. This time India is ready for the challenge and is the favourite to win the World Cup in front of the home crowd.

Josh Hazlewood, who rattled the South African batting along with left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc is hoping that they would recreate their magic against India in the finals. The iconic Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad will host the finals.

Hazlewood and Starc got a lot of early movement and bounce with the new ball at the Eden Gardens. This added up to leave the Proteas reeling for 24/4 after the first 13 overs, setting the tone for an Australian win. Josh Hazlewood said that there was enough help on the wicket in Kolkata. He added that it looked like every shot resulted in a wicket.

“I think there was enough there on the wicket. It looked like every time they went to play a shot, we got a wicket. They sort of had to knuckle back down and try and see it out,” Hazlewood told reporters.

Josh Hazlewood And Mitchell Starc Can Wreak Havoc In The Finals

Josh Hazlewood talked about playing with Mitchell Starc. Both the pacers have played together for a long time and they know each other’s plans very well. Hazlewood hopes that Starc and himself can perform well on Sunday and help Australia to win their sixth World Cup title.

“Yeah, Starc and I have bowled together for a long time now, we know each other’s games, and we both play well on the same night, which is pleasing. Hopefully, we can do that on Sunday as well, but… yeah, there’s a little bit in the wicket which we probably haven’t had, in the previous games, or in a couple here and there, but it was nice to get the ball on,” he added.

Josh Hazlewood credits Mitchell Starc for keeping it simple against South Africa. While both of them were bowling test-match lengths, Starc took a figure of 3/34 in his 10 overs with a maiden to his name. Josh Hazlewood on the other hand bowled eight overs for a figure of 2/12 and got three maiden overs to his name.

“You don’t try and chase it too much either. You know there’s enough there, you’ve just got to put the ball in the right area, but easier said than undone sometimes. Starc keeping it simple… don’t go over-attacking. We know that they’ve sort of got six front-line batters, and Marco’s (Jansen) had a great, great tournament at seven, so if we can make early in-roads, we know they’re set up for the back-end as well. So early wickets just put them on the back foot, and we’re lucky enough to do that tonight (Thursday),” he said.

Australia will be featuring in what would be their eighth World Cup final. They are the most successful team in the tournament’s history with five titles to their name. It will be either Australia with their sixth World Cup title or Team India with their third World Cup title.

The final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 will be played on Sunday, November 19. Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the iconic mega event.