Hazlewood: India have class batters on the sidelines, obviously not of Virat’s class

Josh Hazlewood has reckoned that in the second Test onwards, India will be well-served by their bench strength, whose class is not in doubt, although he conceded that they are not of Virat Kohli’s class.

Virat Kohli will miss the remainder of the Test series and will fly back home to be with his wife Anushka Sharma for the birth of their first child. That will create a big void in the batting order, especially on the face of Indian openers struggling to find any sort of rhythm.

To fill in the void, India might possibly look at Shubman Gill as a middle-order option. Gill, who has been a revelation in the A tours and in the domestic first-class cricket, has a massive shoe to fill but Hazlewood feels India’s strength lies in that.

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“Obviously, there will be a player coming in for Virat. They have quite class players on the bench, to be honest. So good players will come in and will be having plans for them no doubt,” Hazlewood said during the virtual post-match press conference.

“Getting all out on 36 will leave few headaches here and there and obviously Virat leaving so there will be a hole but they have got class batters on the sidelines to come in, obviously not of Virat’s class.”

Hazlewood chuffed for Burns

After recording scores of 10, 11, 4, 0, 0, and 1 in the Sheffield Shield and warm-up games, there was severe pressure on Burns to perform. But the opener repaid the trust shown on him with a half-century in the run-chase and Hazlewood seemed really chuffed about it.

“For Joe Burns, I think it was a perfect scenario today chasing a low score, so it freed him up and India had set an attacking field so there were plenty of gaps, so he got on a roll and got the confidence back.

“We always have faith in him and we want to give him a long run as possible,” said the 29-year-old.