It's Going to Be a Tough Series Against India: Josh Hazlewood

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood, on Monday (June 25), said the much-anticipated series against India at home towards the end of this year would be a ‘tough’ one.

India, currently the top-ranked Test side, have never won a Test series in Australia. However, the 1-1  draw under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy in 2003 has been the best result so far in the series Down Under.

The performance on the last two tours from India has been an absolute disaster as the visitors could not win even one of the eight Tests.

In 2011, they lost 4-0 after being thoroughly outplayed in all the games. Three years later during the 2014-15 tour, they put up a good show but lost the thrilling four-match Test series 2-0.

In between, they managed to avenge the losses at home. But it is safe to say that India would be desperate to win in Australia and many feel that the upcoming tour will be the country’s best chance.

Australia will be without the services of their top-notch players in the form of Steven Smith and David Warner. Well, both of whom have been banned for 12 months by Cricket Australia (CA). The sanction came for their involvement in the ball-tampering controversy. Subsequently, it rocked Australia during their tour of South Africa, earlier this year.

Moreover, India have looked almost unstoppable under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. They have won nine of their last 10 series and are sitting at the top of the ICC rankings for quite some time now.

“It’s going to be a tough series, as it always is against India. We’ve got the wood on them here in Australia but they probably think this is their best chance of upsetting us,” Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.

 

“We’re going to be a few senior batsmen short heading into this series. And they probably sense a bit of a weakness and (will) try to make the most of that. We’re pretty confident here at home. We put it up to them in India and we had chances to take the series but eventually lost it 2-1. Hopefully, we get back on top of them here,” he added.

Josh Hazlewood further hoped that the batsmen can stake their claims for a place in the national side on the back of playing five Sheffield Shield matches before the Test series versus India.

“Hopefully they (aspiring batsmen) can relax a bit knowing they could potentially have 10 hits rather than one or two Shield games and then the selectors pick the team. Hopefully, that brings out their best cricket and a few young guys put their hand up. It will give the batters a good chance to get a lot of match practice under their belts. You can train in the nets as much as you like. But if you’re getting that match practice, five games is a lot,” Hazlewood added.

 

“We had three games before the Ashes last year and I, unfortunately, could only play one. It gave the batters a decent hit-out and even the bowlers. To get that match practice, it hardens your body up. You can come off bowling in the nets but it’s not quite the same. To get that hardened body over a couple of Shield games before the first Test is brilliant,” he noted.

India, meanwhile, will be currently focussed on the tour of England. Kohli and his men will play three Twenty20 Internationals, as many One-day Internationals and five Tests in England. The tour will start next month.