Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood offered a fitness update amid the ongoing Adelaide Test against India, saying that his body is feeling good and he has “ticked off a few boxes”. He also expressed hope to feature in the third Test of the series at Brisbane, starting from December 14 onwards. Hazlewood’s presence is being missed by Australia, who have fielded pacer Scott Boland during the pink-ball Test against India at Adelaide. The pacer, out of action due to a side strain, haunted India in the first Test with a first innings four-wicket haul and while India could score just 180 during their first innings at Adelaide, the presence of Hazlewood could have made the bowling attack more lethal.

Speaking to the panel consisting of Australian legend Ricky Ponting and presenter Mel McLaughlin as per a video by 7 Cricket, Hazlewood said, “The body is feeling pretty good. I mean, it has been a long gap between tests. It has given me a few more days to try and recover.

We have ticked off a few boxes this week so far. I have probably got a big one to tick off on day four and bowl a few spells throughout the day and see how it pulls up. So fingers crossed for that day, I think. I had a little one on (a bowling session) one of the main training days out here in the middle just to get loose, just sort of, you know, 70 percent.”

“But then sort of ticked some sort of above 80 percent, 90 percent yesterday in the nets. And then we will just sort of keep building from there. I hope so (Playing in Brisbane), the side has been a bit of a niggle for me for a few years of now, we are being cautious. But it is a minor strain. Ticked a few boxes already, few more to tick. Fingers crossed,” he concluded.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. However, none of the batters could click. Except for openers KL Rahul (37 in 64 balls, with six fours) and Shubman Gill (31 in 51 balls, with five fours) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (42 in 54 balls, with three fours and three sixes), none of batters could deliver anything special. India was skittled out for 180 and it was Mitchell Starc who asserted his dominance in pink-ball cricket yet again with figures of 6/48. Skipper Pat Cummins and Scott Boland got two scalps.

At the end of session two of day two, Australia’s lead had increased to 152 runs as they had scored 332/8. Century from Travis Head (140 in 141 balls, with 17 fours and four sixes) and a return-to-form fifty from Marnus Labuschagne (64 in 126 balls, with nine fours), stood out for Australia.

India is 1-0 up in the series after a 295-run win at Perth’s Optus Stadium in first Test.

File photo of Josh Hazlewood.© AFP