Josh Hazlewood Vs India GettyImage Credit source: Paul Kane/Getty Images
India vs Australia: It is rare for a ground in Perth to not be seen wreaking havoc with bowlers. Generally, such a scene is seen in Test cricket, where on most occasions the Australian bowlers wreak havoc on the batsmen of the opposite team. Sometimes the host team also becomes a victim of this. This is rarely seen in a format like ODI. But when the bowler is excellent then what difference does the format make? The latest example of this was seen in the first ODI match between India and Australia, where experienced fast bowler Josh Hazlewood terrorized the Indian batting line-up full of star batsmen.
The Optus Stadium in Perth may not be as good as the old WACA Stadium but it is still not easy to bat on this ground in Western Australia. Especially when there are tall fast bowlers in front, whose bowling is absolutely accurate. Team India, which was playing ODI cricket for the first time on this ground, also realized this now. Hazlewood stole the show in the first match of this ODI series, which has been in the news for the return of stalwarts like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Indian batting helpless in front of Hazlewood.
Team India batted first in this match but its innings was affected due to rain on four different occasions and the match had to be stopped. During this time, by the third break, Josh Hazlewood had wreaked havoc and increased the problems of the Indian team. He started it in the fourth over, when Rohit Sharma was caught in the slips on an excellent ball. Even after this, Hazlewood’s havoc continued and he kept troubling batsmen from Virat Kohli to Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer’s victim for the 7th time
When the match started after the second break, Shreyas Iyer hit a four on his very first ball. But his style did not last long because in the same over, the Australian pacer got Iyer caught out by the wicketkeeper on a short ball. In this way, Hazlewood made Shreyas Iyer his victim for the 7th time in 13 innings of international cricket and IPL. Whereas Iyer could score only 66 runs against the Australian giant in these innings.
so stingy in bowling
Hazlewood not only took wickets but also made the Indian batsmen yearn for one run each. Scoring against them proved to be a difficult task for the veteran Indian batsmen. Although the Indian team did hit 3 fours but it was not enough. Due to rain, the overs kept decreasing and due to this Josh Hazlewood could bowl only 7 overs but in this spell of 42 balls, the Australian legend did not give any run in 35 balls. Of the 20 runs that came against him, 3 fours, 4 singles and 4 wides contributed.