Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has absolved Mitchell Marsh of all follies and said that the all-rounder dropping Virat Kohli’s catch was not significant in their 6-wicket loss to India in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 tournament.
The two powerhouse teams clashed in their opening match of the CWC 2023 in Chennai on Sunday. Australia opted to bat first after winning the toss and posted 199 runs. David Warner and Steve Smith were the only ones to cross the 40-run mark. Ravindra Jadeja took 3/28 for India.
In reply, Josh Hazlewood took three wickets, including 2 in the second over of the Indian innings. He got rid of Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks after Mitchell Starc had dismissed Ishan Kishan for a golden duck.
At 2/3, Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97*) came together to add 165 runs for the fourth wicket. Rahul remained unbeaten and hit a six to take India to a win by 6 wickets.
Virat Kohli was dropped on 12 by off Hazlewood’s bowling after Marsh made ample ground from the mid-wicket region, even as wicketkeeper Alex Carey also ran in, leading to confusion.
“No, I don’t think so (it played a role), it was quite early obviously when that catch was dropped. I didn’t think Carey could get there. I think it was Mitch’s catch and probably just Carey got quite close in the end so it might have just put Mitch off.
Yeah, he dropped a catch, it’s one of those things that happens and everyone’s training hard and working hard off the field to hang on to them. So, yeah, we’ll continue on,” Hazlewood said at the post-match press conference.
Hazlewood was all praise for the Indian bowlers, especially left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who took two wickets, including that of David Warner when the batter was looking good for a big one.
“Yeah, I think he’s (Kuldeep) obviously done well over the last 12 or 18 months. He’s always been a good player. We’ve found him tough to play against. Not often you come up against a left-arm leg spinner with great variations, so it’s sort of something hard to practice against.
And yeah, he’s always been a good player to play against, so I think in general the three spinners bowled well. They’re all a little bit different obviously, but they know the conditions well and bowled accordingly,” the Aussie pacer said.
Australia take on South Africa next in Lucknow, while India will play Afghanistan in New Delhi.
(PTI inputs)
