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While Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of three Tests out of the five Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy and also missed Australia’s Sri Lanka Tour and Champions Trophy due to a calf-injury, the 34-year-old currently sits at the second spot in the highest wicket-takers list in this year’s IPL with a total of 16 wickets in nine matches. The six feet and five inches tall pacer starred in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. With Australia playing in the World Test Championships final against South Africa at Lord’s starting June 11 and Hazlewood and Scott Boland vying for the third placer slot after skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the final, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri believes Hazlewood gets the nod ahead of Boland in his view.
“It will be a very tough choice, but if Hazelwood is fit, then he gets the nod ahead of Boland. If Hazlewood is fit to do that, he will definitely get the nod for two reasons. One, the English conditions, two, Lord’s with the slope. And the reason I say Lord’s slope is Hazlewood is most likened to Glenn McGrath. And you’ve got to just check Glenn McGrath’s record at Lord’s, with the slope around and bowling from the Commentary Box end,” said Shastri while speaking with The ICC Review.
Australia had called Scott Boland as a replacement for the injured Hazlewood in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Boland took 21 wickets in the last three Test matches of the series with Australia winning the series 3-1. Boland was also part of the winning Australian team in the WTC final against India in 2023, where he picked up five wickets in the match including a brilliant spell in the second innings, where he removed Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. On the other hand, Hazlewood has picked up 279 wickets in 72 Test matches for Australia. While McGrath took 26 wickets in three Test matches at Lord’s during his career, Hazlewood has taken 13 wickets in three Test matches at Lords’ in his career. Shastri rated Hazlewood’s extra bit of height and ability to extract bounce as compared to Boland working in favour of Hazelwood at Lord’s.
“He (McGrath) could be lethal with the ball either seaming back or going away and from either end, to be honest and I think Hazlewood can do something similar with his height. The pitches aren’t as quick as in Australia. So you need that extra bit of height and bounce, which he will get as opposed to Scott Boland, though I’m a big fan of Scott Boland. Ideally, you want to play all four (seamers) if you get half a chance and if there’s a little more grass on the surface.” said Shastri.
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