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Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood expects an uphill task against India in the 2023 World Cup semi-final on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The right-arm seamer highlighted that the Men in Blue have no real weaknesses and have ticked every box leading up to the final.
Team India have arguably been the most in-form team in the 2023 World Cup, steamrolling all the opponents in the group stage, going undefeated. The Men in Blue have all their bases covered and have all the players in form as they gear up to face Australia for the 2nd time in the tournament.
Hazlewood, who was incisive with the new ball against South Africa in the semi-final, recalled how he managed to take a couple of top-order wickets in Chennai. As quoted by cricket.com.au, the New South Wales seamer stated:
"I think they're all across the board really. They've got good quicks, good spinners, good batters so they're ticking every box. I guess we saw a few cracks when we played them in Chennai chasing a small target, we were lucky enough to get a couple early. I guess we saw a few cracks when we played them in Chennai chasing a small target, we were lucky enough to get a couple early. But there's no real weaknesses as we've seen."
After Mitchell Starc dismissed Ishan Kishan, the right-arm seamer removed Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks in the group-stage match between the two sides. Hazlewood also could have had Virat Kohli, but Mitchell Marsh made a mess of a simple catch from where Australia lost.
"The wicket was pretty good" - Josh Hazlewood on playing in Ahmedabad
The 32-year-old revealed that the team had lengthy discussions about improving their performance with the new ball against South Africa. He also expects a pitch to offer something to the bowlers in Ahmedabad. He said:
"It's huge, and the bigger the game the more important it becomes. We spoke about that, we seem to start really well with the ball when we're bowling second, probably more so than bowling first. So there was a big emphasis on that tonight. We talked about in a meeting and jumped out of the blocks firing tonight, which was very pleasing."
He added:
"So we know the blueprint now if we're bowling first, and hopefully go again on Sunday. We played England at Ahmedabad and the wicket was pretty good without being an absolute flat track, so I expect probably something similar to that."
Australia will eye a record 6th title in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup on Sunday, November 19 in Ahmedabad.
