One of the most potent forces of Australian pace arsenal, Josh Hazlewood has opened up about India’s premier opener Rohit Sharma’s greatest strength as a batsman.
In recent years, both Hazlewood and Rohit have been involved in a number of high-octane duels whenever India and Australia locked horns in all formats.
Since his move at the opening slot, Rohit has been unstoppable in white-ball cricket and now has also translated his rich form in Test cricket as an opener.
Recently, while talking to Star Sports, Hazlewood has heaped praises on the Mumbai batting extraordinaire.
“He’s got many. I think it’s just with how the ease that he plays, especially anything back of a length, anything short, just puts it away with such ease. It’s just an area in which he gets better, I think,” Hazlewood said on ‘Cricket Connected’.
While praising Rohit, Hazlewood admired his sense of timing and lack of effort in getting his runs.
“He never looks to bludgeon the ball, just pure class and elegance. His records, especially in white-ball cricket, is phenomenal,” he added.
Hazlewood was then asked about whether it is annoying to bowl to somebody batting with such ease and class.
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean the batters through our time, obviously are the frustrating ones to bowl to,” he replied.
“Even when someone who came quicker like Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins’ bowling to those guys, it doesn’t seem fast and that’s probably the one thing that sticks out when you are bowling to these types of players,” Hazlewood concluded.
Both Rohit and Hazlewood would face-off next when India tours Down Under later this year. The last time when India visited Australia, the hosts lost the four-match Test series by a margin of 2-1.
The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, did very well to negotiate the three-pronged pace attack of Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.
