8 October - Chennai - Australia player Josh Hazlewood post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Do you think after that catch was dropped there was practically any chance of a comeback because probably that changed the match?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
No, I don't think so, it was quite early obviously when that catch was dropped but we still felt that new ball was doing enough, whether it was in the air or off the wicket. We knew that spin was going to be tough to play, maybe not as tough as during the day, but still enough to play it. And we certainly felt in the game for quite a while until obviously the partnership grew and grew and they sort of batted us out of it obviously. And yeah, I thought we did a reasonable job early in particular trying to defend 200.
[Reporter:]
You have seen the way the wicket behaved in both innings. What did the team think of the total on the board and where did it go wrong? Where did it go wrong in the batting department?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Yeah, obviously the total was under par I think I can't remember exact numbers, but I think we were two for 110 or something like that. Not going really quickly but just building a base to maybe launch in the last 10 or 15 overs and you know if we get 260, 250 - 260 then it's a different ballgame and we get those early wickets and get on top so yeah, I think from two for 110 to all out 200 that's probably where the batting went wrong.
[Reporter:]
Obviously, no one means to drop a catch, but what was it like from your vantage point and did you think it was Alex's catch or Mitch's?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
No, 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.
[Reporter:]
And just how was the wicket overall?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
It obviously felt like it probably spun more in the first half. Definitely the dew came in but I think early in our bowling innings it was doing enough and it was still dry. The wicket was up and down a little bit so you felt in the game as a quick in particular I think, and then I think it got a little bit better to bat on right towards the end.
I know it's a partnership but I think it just felt a little bit easier as ball was just skidding on a little bit so yeah, we'll have a look at that.
[Reporter:]
In terms of the total that Australia put up, 200, by one day standards it was quite below par. So, what did you guys tell each other during the innings break?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
I think we'll reflect on it a little bit later. I think in that moment you focus purely on the bowling side of things. The batting's done, you can't do anything about that. So, it's just about how we're going to take the 10 wickets for under 200 really. We'll digest the batting over the next few days before our next game and come back with not renewed plans but we'll touch base again and discuss it and move on.
[Reporter:]
Just in a long tournament like this, how do you read into a result like this? Can you have some takeaways from here and say, you still have eight more games, and just move on from that? Or will there be a lot of reflection on the batting, like you said?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
No, I don't think a lot of reflection. We might come up against these conditions again at other grounds throughout those eight games as you mentioned. So just be about the batting group sort of coming up with the plan and sticking to it. You know we might have to reassess and say yeah 260 is a good score rather than 300 plus to what we've seen on a few other grounds so just about assessing and you know if we can get to that score then we can try and defend it so yeah, we won't dive into it too much, I think.
[Reporter:]
Do you think the way the game went you could be a spinner short if Zampa goes for a few runs, you could be stuck in a difficult position?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
No, I don't think so. I think our quicks are our strength probably up front as we saw tonight. And then I think Glenn Maxwell is a frontline spinner in particular in India. He's bowled a lot here throughout IPL and throughout one dayers. So yeah, I consider him a front-line spinner. So we've got two spinners and three quicks as you know, a lot of the other teams do so, no I don't feel that we're short at all.
[Reporter:]
You briefly touched upon playing in different grounds. You go to Lucknow now, back-to-back games, and it's sort of fairly comparable to the black soil turnover here. So, looking at this particular game, what could you glean or take away from here to Lucknow back-to-back?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Yeah, I think in particular batting in that first innings, that was probably as extreme as the conditions are going to get, I think, in terms of spin and playing spin throughout the middle and trying to find ways to score, keep that run rate ticking over without losing wickets. So, there's probably a good sort of examination on our batters to get that up first, probably against the best spinners in the tournament, arguably. Hopefully it gets a little bit easier from here on in and they'll come up with some new plans and go from there.
[Reporter:]
You said the dew came into it, did it come into it as you expected or more, or less and was bowling first ever really discussed as an option?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
I'm not really in those discussions in terms of the toss but yeah it might be something we need to look at, I guess. I think the tournament will go in phases of batting first and bowling first. So, we've seen sort of wins both ways so far. And yeah, it might have been something we could have done, could have bowled first and made the most of that, I guess, dryness in the turn. The dew did come in a little bit at the end and the ball got a little bit wet and soft but I felt like we created enough chances early to make a mark.
[Reporter:]
Before the match Shubman Gill was not playing, he was the best Indian batsman this year. And then obviously Indian top order went for nothing. How do you look at India's batting lineup overall?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Whenever you see someone like [Suryakumar Yadav] on the bench, I think the batting must be pretty good. Yeah, I think you know, we obviously made those inroads early, but I think in chasing 200, they probably played it perfectly. They didn't have to hit boundaries or anything. They let a lot of balls go. They just paced themselves and paced their innings, knowing that it would probably get a little bit easier towards the end. So, yeah, they're two experienced guys and they played that way.
[Reporter:]
Before the World Cup, Australia played India and you lost that game. What was the learning from that series and what is the learning from today's match?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Yeah, I think obviously that series we finished strongly. I think you know that it was a strange one I think you know initially you always want to bowl first and not bowl on the dew at night but on a few of those grounds I found the wicket really deteriorated and the ball deteriorated as well and it was tough to chase down a score. Two of the games went that way, I think, so, yeah, I guess every ground's a little bit different as well. Around the country, it's such a big country and the conditions change. And I think you’ve got to just land on the ground and try and sum up what you think's the best thing to do first and what's going to happen later on. It's sort of exciting that everywhere is a little bit different I think and hopefully we learn from tonight.
[Reporter:]
Did the game you played here in March influence the decision with the toss in terms of batting first?
And also, did you kind of overestimate what could have been a par score? Did you try to over extend yourself trying to go for more than 300 and end up falling short?
What was it when someone like Steve Smith who started really well got dismissed?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Yeah, I wasn't here in the game in March, but I think they may have played a part in that we thought in that game the wicket got really tough to bat on late. And we defended the score I'm pretty sure.
So yeah, it may have come into calculations for batting first. I think, yeah, that's probably the word back from the players out in the middle, I think in terms of the batting. We can communicate that maybe a little bit better and think, yeah, this is hard work out here and 250 is a good score and we try and defend that and if you go a little bit harder things can happen pretty quickly as we saw tonight but I think that communication is pretty good in our group and it probably did come back and we just continued to lose wickets so yeah - I think communications always good in our group.
[Reporter:]
Just one last question your thoughts on the Indian bowling, specifically speaking about Kuldeep Yadav, the leg spinner. What makes him so dangerous?
[Josh Hazlewood:]
Yeah, I think he's obviously done really 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 that's 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 really well they're all a little bit different obviously but they know the conditions really well and bowled accordingly.