Scott Boland was one of the heroes for Australia during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India in Adelaide. Boland picked up five wickets in the match and constantly troubled India with his impeccable lines and lengths.
It didn’t look like he was playing his first home Test match after two years as he was spot-on with his performance. However, he is all set to sit out of the third Test of the series in Brisbane as Josh Hazlewood is in line to be fit again.
Hazlewood missed the second Test in Adelaide due to a side strain that he suffered in the first Test. But he has recently shown signs of returning back to full fitness during the fitness drills at the middle of the Adelaide Oval after the second Test.
Scott Boland is all set to be out of the Brisbane Test
Hazlewood’s return means that Scott Boland will be dropped from the team despite having an excellent game in Adelaide. The Australian team management is confident of having Hazlewood fit for the third Test which begins from December 14.
Being a first-choice member of Australia’s Playing XI, it is unlikely that the team management will keep Hazlewood out despite him being 100% fit. Hazlewood was also Australia’s best bowler during their defeat in the first Test at Perth.
It means that Boland will be out of Australia’s Test team once again. Before the Adelaide Test, his last match was in the 2023 Ashes at Headingley.
Josh Hazlewood praises Scott Boland
When asked about Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood was full of praise for his replacement and claimed that Boland just sticks to his basics and can run through a batting order when he is on song. He also added that Boland becomes a different bowler under lights.
“[It’s] just admiration, he just sticks to his guns,” Hazlewood said. “He does his job, he doesn’t try and be anyone else. Whether he’s playing for Victoria or Australia, it’s the same thing, it’s the same areas,” Hazlewood was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“We’ve seen him take multiple wickets in an over, so once he gets on a roll, it’s just bang, bang, bang. In these conditions, (with the) pink ball under lights, there’s not many better,” he added.
Scott Boland has played just the 11 Tests so far but has been highly impressive already. He has picked up 40 wickets at a brilliant average of 20.42 as he continues the late rise in his career.
Scott Boland’s performance in Adelaide
In the recent Test in Adelaide, Scott Boland picked up the big wickets of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill. However, such is the might of this Australian fast-bowling attack that even such a performance won’t guarantee Boland a permanent spot in the team.
He even picked up the big wicket of KL Rahul in his first ball of the match but later it was found that he had overstepped. However, he continued to bowl tightly, and Indian batters had no answers to his skills at one point.
The third Test of the series will be played at Gabba, Brisbane from December 14. With the series leveled at 1-1, it promises to be a hard-fought match with both teams trying to take the lead.