Hazlewood-Cummins spell the toughest I have faced: Rahul

KL Rahul, who hit his fifth fifty in six innings on Sunday, said the hostile spells bowled by Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins in the first session was the toughest he has ever faced in his two-year career.

“First session was the toughest session I have faced in Tests. Hazlewood and Cummins put the ball in the right areas and swung the ball, bowled with lot of pace and venom,” Rahul said.

In a testing first session, Cummins and Hazlewood helped restrict India to 64 runs. Rahul got a life on 10, edging an out swinger off Cummins which Matt Renshaw dropped at first slip. Rahul went on to share an 87-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara (57).

There was hope the Karnataka batsman would convert it into a century but was undone by a short delivery from Cummins. “Intent was right but the execution was horrible. But having batted out there in the middle for a long time, I thought I could have taken him on as there were no fielders at the back,” Rahul said. Number of runs for Cheteshwar Pujara in the Test season with one innings to go. He broke Gautam Gambhir’s record of 1269 runs set in 2008/09.

Pujara became the second batsman to go past 400 runs in the series. Steve Smith leads with 482 runs. Despite missing out again, Rahul averages 57 in the series. “It has not been the worst series or me. I got starts and enjoyed batting in the middle. A little disappointed I have not been able to convert the starts and get big runs for the team. Australia’s bowlers haven’t made it easy. They have challenged us,” Rahul said.

The Dharamsala wicket though is the best they have played on in this series, he said. “There’s something in it for the spinners and fast bowlers as well. The ball kept swinging the whole day. If you spend some time out there in the middle, it’s really good to bat. It has been a fantastic Number of fifties by KL Rahul in this series in six innings. He has had scores of 64, 10, 90, 51, 67 and 60. Ravindra Jadeja became the 10th Indian allrounder to smash 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in Tests.

cricket wicket so far.”

India skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out due to a shoulder injury, the first Test he has sat out due to a fitness issue since his 2011 debut. This was also the first time Rahul was playing a Test without Kohli in it. Asked whether India were missing Kohli, he said the others need to stand up.

“We are missing Kohli. He’s been a huge influence on everybody in the team. He always sets great examples for us and he leads from the front. His aggression and energy are obviously something that would have been really good for us.”