India opener Abhishek Sharma had an epic reaction to knowing that Australia’s strike fast bowler Josh Hazlewood will miss the remainder of the five-T20I series after his heroics in the second game at MCG.

Hazlewood ran through the Indian batting line-up in the second T20I, returning with the figures of 3/13 in four overs to help Australia bundle out the visitors for 125 in 18.4 overs.

The right-arm was declared Player-of-the-Match after Australia emerged victorious by four wickets but he will now step away to prepare for the upcoming Ashes against England.

Following the match, Abhishek came out to address the press conference, where he shared his feelings on Hazlewood missing the rest three T20Is of the series.

Sharma was shocked as he didn't know that it was pre-decided and said that he was enjoying the challenge of facing Hazlewood with the new ball.

"Oh, is he? I didn't know this, but obviously, I mean, he's good enough to play all the formats, but still I was enjoying this challenge because somehow as a batter, you have to face the world-class bowlers, and that's what I was trying to do," Abhishek told reporters.

Abhishek also commended Hazlewood for his stunning spell in Melbourne, citing that the Aussie pacer had a plan and was executing it well.

"I think as a batter, I was watching him in in the ODIs as well. So somehow we knew that he's gonna give us this much difficulty and challenges. So obviously, the way he bowled today, even I got surprised. I haven't seen something like this in T20s."

"That's something new for me as well, because I'm a batter that wants to dominate, but when I was seeing on the other side that how he's bowling and even to me as well, seems like he had a plan and he was just executing it," said Abhishek.

India and Australia will now square off in the third T20I in Hobart on Sunday (November 2).