THE VIRAT PACK

Hazlewood challenges India’s batsmen

AUSTRALIAN vice- captain Josh Hazlewood has called on India’s batsmen to prove they are not a one-man band.

Led by the world’s best runmaker, Virat Kohli, India comes into the four-Test series a marginal favourite to break a 71-year-old drought on Australian soil.

Kohli is the headline act, but paceman Hazlewood yesterday put the microscope on his support cast.

India has failed in away series against South Africa and England this year, and Hazlewood said Kohli was the only batsman who had stood up to be counted on big occa- sions. Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay both had excellent tours of Australia in 2014, and Rahane has a better batting average away than at home.

Kohli’s record in Australia is astounding with five hundreds at an average of 62, but none of those performances has resulted in victory.

“They’ve played a lot at home since we played them last in Australia,” Hazlewood said. “They toured England and South Africa and it was only Virat who stood out. A lot of the others haven’t scored too many of the runs. These wickets are different again. It’s about weighing that up and seeing what we get in the middle.”

Cheteshwar Pujara, at No. 3, averages 33.50 in Australia, while opener Lokesh Rahul and veteran Rohit Sharma have also struggled, averaging about the 30 mark.

On similar pitches in South Africa at the start of this year, every recognised batsman, with the exception of Kohli (47.66) and Rahane (28.50), averaged in the mid-teens.

In England against the seaming ball, Kohli averaged 59, but Pujara’s hundred was about the only support he got.

The work Australia’s bowlers are putting into their plans to Kohli is exhaustive.

Four years ago in Australia, Kohli averaged more than 160.

Last year when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was contested in India, he averaged nine with a highest score of 15.

“We’ll obviously have a chat about him before the game starts. We’ll come up with a couple of options,” Hazlewood said.

“It depends on what conditions we get and what wickets. With a player of that calibre, you need a few options.

“He’s one of those guys who can score pretty freely … but sometimes those risks bring the most rewards as well, as you mentioned.

“It’s just about weighing that up and assessing how long we stay at each plan for.

“We might stay at it for 20 balls or 80 balls, depending on how we feel. It’s about adapt- ing once we’re on the field.”

Hazlewood said he, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins wouldn’t antagonise a batsman who relished confrontation.

“Virat thrives on that stuff. It gets him going and he probably plays his best cricket when he’s doing that,” he said.

“It’s up to the individual how they want to handle it.”