Melbourne [Australia], October 31 (ANI): India’s flamboyant batter Abhishek Sharma was “surprised” and revealed he hadn’t seen anything like the way Australia pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood bowled during the second T20I in Melbourne on Friday.
Under the overcast sky of Melbourne, Australia won the toss, opted to bowl, and Hazlewood delivered a fiery spell to leave India’s renowned top-order jolted. With his blistering spell, Hazlewood scalped the wickets of India captain Suryakumar Yadav (1), his deputy Shubman Gill (5) and in-form Tilak Varma (0) to return with figures of 3/13 in his four-over spell.
As Hazlewood charged at Indian batters in the powerplay, Abhishek saw his compatriots fall and managed to negate the threat posed by the 34-year-old, despite giving away a thick outside edge. Hazlewood’s spell forced India to settle for 125 despite Abhishek’s blistering 37-ball 68 and Harshit Rana’s sturdy 35(33).
The number one T20I batter revealed that he had watched Hazlewood bowl during the three ODIs against India, which ended with a 2-1 series for Australia. Despite being aware of the threats and challenges, Hazlewood still found a way to surprise Abhishek.
“As a batter, I was watching him in the ODIs as well. So, somehow we knew that he was going to give us this much difficulty and challenges. So, obviously, the way he bowled today, even I got surprised. I haven’t seen something like this in T20s,” Abhishek told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“It was something new for me as well because I am a batter who wants to dominate. But when I was seeing on the other side how he was bowling, and even to me as well, it seemed like he had a plan, and he was just executing it,” he added.
With the first T20I being washed out and the second ending with a four-wicket win for Australia, Hazlewood will now leave the squad to shift his focus towards the Ashes, scheduled to begin on November 21 in Perth.
Abhishek appeared surprised when asked about Hazlewood being unavailable for the rest of the five-match series, and this prompted laughter. The 25-year-old southpaw revealed that he enjoyed the challenge as a batter, especially while facing “world-class” Hazlewood.
“Oh, is he? I didn’t know this, but obviously, I mean, he is good enough to play all the formats, but still, I was enjoying this challenge because somehow, as a batter, you have to face the world-class bowlers, and that’s what I was trying to do,” Abhishek added.
Hazlewood also reflected on his battle with Abhishek at the MCG and acknowledged the talent the young swashbuckler possesses. Hazlewood admitted that he learnt a few things while trying to bowl against a “quality” player.
“Abhishek, I think he’s obviously a very talented young player, and we’re probably learning every time we bowl to him. I think we had a few learnings again tonight, which we’ll chat about again in the next few days. But yeah, he’s a quality player, and he just keeps producing. So it’s always tough, it’s always a good challenge,” Hazlewood said in the press conference.
In reply to India’s paltry 125, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh engineered a rollicking 46(26) to gun down the target, clinch a four-wicket win and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. (ANI)
