NEWS
Follow UsSix years ago, India entered Australian shores having never won a Test series Down Under, but that changed in the span of 45 days thanks to an extraordinary showing from the then Virat Kohli-led unit. The Indian pacers fired on all cylinders but the one man who architected the series win was Cheteshwar Pujara, who produced one of the greatest showings by an away batter in Australia, hammering 521 runs at an average of 74.42.
This average dropped to 33.87 in India’s successful 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign but Pujara still did his part, facing a staggering 928 balls - the most among all batters in that series. He ground down the Aussie bowlers and enabled the batters around him to take advantage by delivering punches.
But Pujara won’t be there this time around, having been left out, and that’s understandably come as a massive relief for Josh Hazlewood, who in the last six years has dismissed him just thrice in 484 balls.
"I'm pretty happy that Puj (Pujara) isn't here," Hazlewood said on November 20 (Wednesday).
"He's one that bats time and you really earn his wicket every time, and has done really well in Australia on all his tours.”
But Hazlewood insisted that Pujara’s absence won’t make India’s batting any less intimidating.
"There's always young fresh guys coming into the Indian team, and they're under so much pressure to perform with so many guys nipping at their heels all the time.
"Whoever they pick in that eleven, they're unbelievable players."
A day away from the Test, India’s batting order still remains a mystery. Rohit Sharma is out since he’s back home on paternal leave, but nobody knows what the top three will look like. There are murmurs that KL Rahul might partner Yashasvi Jaiswal with Devdutt Padikkal batting at No.3, but, then again, these are only reports. There are also rumours claiming that young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy might make his Test debut at the expense of Ravindra Jadeja.
Hazlewood admitted that, from India’s perspective, it’s not ideal to have the top six disrupted but asserted that the side’s ‘phenomenal depth’ means that any player featuring in the XI will be capable of winning games on their own.
"There's a few little unknowns in the batting order I guess," Hazlewood said.
"So we've had to go through a few players there in the bowlers' meeting, and I guess we find out on Friday who's playing.
'Any time you disrupt the top six it's a bit of an issue, but I think the amount of talent in the Indian squad is quite unbelievable.
"The depth is phenomenal, better than any other country in the world really so whoever comes in has earned their stripes and no doubt will do well.”
This could very well be the last BGT in Australia where we see Australia’s big three quicks face-off against the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The former, in particular, has been their arch nemesis.
The Aussies would want to have Kohli’s number this time around, but Hazlewood insisted that the side is not going to overcomplicate things with the ball.
"We've played a lot against India, particularly the senior players like Virat.
"He's done well here in the past, so we've learned from that and will have some plans but it doesn't often stray away from top of off, so we'll stick to that as best as we can in these conditions if there's a little bit there for us."
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