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Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood provided an update over his fitness ahead of the third Test against India, expressing hope to return for the match at Brisbane's iconic Gabba venue.
Hazlewood has been battling a side strain and was forced to watch on from the sidelines as Australia clinched an impressive 10-wicket triumph in Adelaide to level the five-match series against India at 1-1 and boost their chances of reaching next year's ICC World Test Championship Final. But Hazlewood, who took a four-wicket haul in the first Test at Perth, was put through his paces in Adelaide on Monday and is aiming to make his return for the third Test in Brisbane should he pull up well over the next couple of days. "I think it will be how I pull up in the 24 hours following it really. It is just that repetitive (action) and obviously two spells makes a big difference," said Hazlewood as quoted by ICC. "Cooling down pretty much fully and then going again in the same day, and the intensity has got to be right up there as well. So a few boxes to tick, but it is probably the 24 hours that follow and pulling up again the next day and then thinking 'yeah, I would be right to go again if I had to'," he added. If Hazlewood does return to Australia's playing XI it may mean Scott Boland makes way despite the pacer making a solid contribution in Adelaide and picking up five wickets across the two innings. Both fast bowlers will make the trip to Brisbane ahead of the Gabba Test, with Australia looking to improve on their recent record at the ground that has seen them lose two of their last four matches at the iconic venue. That includes a three-wicket loss to India in the Aussies' most recent Test against India in Brisbane, but Hazlewood is confident his side can continue their winning ways if they can adjust quickly to returning to using a red-ball. "We always play pretty well in Brisbane (but) the last Test (against West Indies this year) was obviously pink-ball," Hazlewood noted. "The pink-ball gets quite soft in Brisbane quite early on, with the wicket being quite hard, it does not have that thatch grass that we see here at Adelaide. So we are back to the red-ball there, which I think suits us," said Hazlewood. "We obviously have not won recently up there, but it is a place we like to play as it suits our guys. It is an experienced team, so we have all been there a lot of times. It is probably more just the time difference - the going from day-night and sleeping in - to your sleeping patterns, getting that adjusted and getting back on track," he concluded. Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they had to face the wrath of a moving, erratic pink-ball and its mastermind, Mitchell Starc (6/48). Except for a 69-run stand for the second wicket between KL Rahul (37 in 64 balls with six fours) and Shubman Gill (31 in 51 balls, with five fours) and a fighting 42 in 54 balls (three fours and three sixes) from Nitish Kumar Reddy, there was not much highlights from India who were skittled out for 180 runs. Skipper Cummins and Scott Boland also took two wickets. In the first innings, a 67-run partnership between Nathan McSweeney (39 in 109 balls, with six fours) and Marnus Labuschagne (64 in 126 balls, with nine fours) for second wicket set the platform for Travis Head to impose his domination over Indian bowlers yet again with a counter-attacking 140 in 141 balls, with 17 fours and four sixes, just when Aussies lost some regular wickets. His century took Australia to 337 runs and gave them a 157-run lead. Jasprit Bumrah (4/61) and Mohammed Siraj (4/98) were top bowlers for India. Ravichandran and Nitish got a wicket each. In their second innings, India appeared even more toothless as the star-studded top-order and middle-order returned back to pavillion despite starts from Jaiswal (24 in 31 balls, with four boundaries), Gill (28 in 30 balls, with three fours) while KL Rahul (7) and Virat Kohli (11 in 21 balls with a four) failed to score well. India ended day two at 128/5. On the third day, Pant also lost his wicket for 28 in 31 balls, with five fours. From there on, it was not looking back for Aussies, who skittled out India for 175 runs in 36.5 overs. India lead by just 18 runs, setting Aussies 19 runs to win. Skipper Cummins (5/67) took a majestic five-wicket haul, his eighth as a captain. Boland took 3/51 while Starc took 2/60. Set a target of 19 runs, Khawaja (10*) and McSweeney (9*) chased it down without breaking a sweat in 3.2 overs. (ANI)
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