Australia's Josh Hazlewood in action
Credit: Reuters Photo
Perth: "Very determined," says Josh Hazlewood when asked about Australia regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) which has remained with India since the 2017 series in India. Subsequently, the two teams played three series -- two in Australia and one in India -- all of which India won to hold the trophy for the longest time since its inception in 1996-97.
"I know there's a lot of guys in the shed that have never beaten India in a Test series. Obviously we've beaten them in a World Test Championship (final) in England, but there's only a couple (in fact, four) of us from that series we won 2-0 way back in 2014-15. So everyone's really determined. This is one we need to tick off as a group."
Besides Hazlewood, the other three surviving members of the 2014-15 series win are Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.
Cheteshwar Pujara was instrumental in India's two back to back wins in Australia. While he was the player of the series in 2018-19, his mind-over-body innings in the 2019-20 series decider in Brisbane, where he took more blows on his body than the number of runs he scored, helped India retain the BGT.
"I'm pretty happy that Puj isn't here," Hazlewood said when reminded about his absence. "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. 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," he offered.
Hazlewood has had quite a success at the Perth Stadium where Australia have won all their four Tests, starting with the maiden game against India in 2018. The pitch for the opener for the forthcoming BGT series, starting Friday, has the pacer excited.
"I love playing here in Perth, the wicket's always a nice one to bowl pace on – bouncy, a few cracks later in the game potentially. The first Test of the summer is always exciting, the build in. It's always great to get the Test squad back together, everyone's pumped."