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They tried the off-stump line, short ball tactic and even attacking the line of stumps but nothing seemed to work against Virat Kohli, who blunted the Australian attack with his 30th Test hundred, leading speedster Josh Hazlewood said as his team stared at big defeat in the opening Test against India.
India posted a mammoth 487 runs in their second innings, setting the hosts a stiff 534-run target. Australia ended opening day at 12 for three and even Hazlewood knows that it would take a miracle to save the game.
“We cycled through a few plans. He [Kohli] batted really well. He’s a good player. We sort of hung it outside off for a bit with an offside field. We tried straight. We tried the bounces. We tried a lot of things. He negated everything. So, yes, credit to him,” said Hazlewood on Kohli’s unbeaten 100 which took him past Sir Donald Bradman’s 29 Test hundreds.
Also Read: Virat Kohli smacks 30th century, shutting critics and downing Australia in Perth
He admitted that he hasn’t had too many harder days in office like one on Sunday when Indian batters grounded a quality bowling attack into submission. Hazlewood bowled 21 of the 84 overs sent down by Australian quicks, who got only four wickets, giving away 290 runs.
“They piled on the runs and had a couple of really big partnerships there. It was hard work out there,” Hazlewood said when asked if that was one of the harder days he had in the field.
“The new ball probably does a little bit. But, if you get through that, then it’s a bit easier batting. We saw a little bit up and down towards the end of the day, obviously. So, that’ll be something the batters will be watching tomorrow,” he added.
Asked about his plans for tomorrow, Hazlewood said it was now up to the batters to do the job and he would just relax.
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