Rohit Sharma had faced 83 balls from Josh Hazlewood before the Adelaide ODI. He had watched, dissected and studied his angles and spaces, the planes and paths, comprehended the fine margins of deviations and bounce, the little clues his action and release threw up. Yet, when he faced the 89th ball from the six-feet-five-inches tall seamer in Perth, he slipped into the familiar snare off prodding at a hard length ball with uncertain hands, everything about his terrified movements betraying him.
Rohit could curse his judgement, the failing muscle memory, the diminishing eyes, the un-grooved muscles; he could also nod at the simple genius of his nemesis, smiling sheepishly, retreating into the background, the unsung drummer of Australia’s holiest fast bowling trinity. Rohit might have watched the mode of dismissal a thousand times in the past. The hard length ball, angling in from the high, upright arm, seaming away fractionally, extracting a scintilla of extra bounce, grazing the outside edge off the confused bat. Or in a plain sense, Hazlewood was just doing the expected.
With his admirable natural gifts, Hazlewood needn’t probably produce the unexpected to trouble batsmen. He has the dream height for a fast bowler, a robust frame chiselled by hurling javelins in his teenage, sinewy limbs and stamina nurtured by his countryside upbringing. He, as he often insists, just needs to find the “right length”. The mastery of what he often makes sound casual, though, is the most difficult part of being a bowler.
The Rohit ball — a specimen that fully captures his art — was all about length. The previous deliveries, among them a fuller one that shaped away and beat him, a shorter one he tried to hoick and missed, had pulled him out of shape. The length of this one froze his feet, he tried to move back, but the static feet rebelled. His hands, that often comes to his rescue, came down to meet the original line, but couldn’t readjust to the late away movement or the bounce. He was simply late. Some bowlers shuffle their lengths subtly; some others noticeably. Hazlewood performs both.
Thus, Hazlewood’s craft is not only about hitting the right length, but processing the right length to the right batsman at the right time. Rohit, he knows, could be vulnerable to the moving ball early on. Several bowlers commit the folly of bowling too full in search of extravagant movement. Hazlewood knows the wastefulness of lavish movement that often misses the edge altogether. But he also knows that the hard length ball on a bouncy, juicy surface is a deadlier proposition, provided it travels the right channels, provided he makes the batsman play at it. The replay of Rohit’s dismissal will misconstrue an impression that he could have left it alone. He could not have, because of the inward angle, because of the recent memory of the ball seaming, because the length was too suffocating to leave, and because it was Hazlewood. He unfailingly draws a stroke, often of the falser kind. Like his idol Glenn McGrath, albeit a yard or two quicker and without his knack of winding up batsmen. And like him, the simplicity of his methods obscures its flexibility. Be it switching lengths, angles, ends, bowling from over or around the wicket, to right handers or left handers, he doesn’t lose any ball in adjustment.
The lengths were different to Shubman Gill. He interchanged between the short and good length. The shorter one produced steep bounce, tempting Gill to pull. He was wise enough to choose restraint. Only when he went too wide did he attempt a hook, which he failed to connect. Gill also blocked the good length ones. Only when he erred on the fuller side did he essay a couple of gorgeous fours. The Australian metronome was testing waters, seeing whether he could coax some late movement or make Gill lunge at the ball. Gill survived, but managed. Apart from the two fours, he eked out a lone run from 15 balls. He was not alone in his ability to hoard runs from Hazlewood. As many as 35 off his legal 42 balls were unscored off.
A third boundary came off his bowling from the flashing blade off Shreyas Iyer. But he was laying the charm offensive, as he immediately followed up the wide, good length ball that Iyer cut to fence, with a short ball at his body. Shreyas, by now, would be aware of bowlers’ short-ball tactics. But Hazlewood caught him off-guard and in a tangle. It was not a short ball, but more a hard length one, but it bounced wickedly into him. Had the ball been shorter, he could have left the ball on its leg-side course; had it been straighter, he could have left it on length. But the medley of length and direction forced into the fatal stroke.
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Kohli was staved off the blushes, facing only a ball. Among all of Australia’s bowlers, Hazlewood has tormented his RCB colleague the most. In 10 ODIs, he has nailed the modern-day batting great five times, besides keeping him run-less for 58 off the 99 balls he has bowled at him. Harrowingly, he has troubled him with various lengths, made him miscue pulls, nick the fuller ones, let the ball sneak through his gate.
In short, the key to India’s hopes of keeping the series alive in Adelaide is to defuse Hazlewood. But Hazlewood and Adelaide under lights would stir dark memories for Kohli and Co. Here, four years ago, he instigated India’s most harrowing hour in Test cricket. 36 All Out. And no matter the hours of preparation, dissection and visualisation, the lengths of Hazlewood would hound batsmen.
Hoff and hop
Hazlewood’s dismissals versus India (in ODIs)
- Rohit Sharma: 2 (average of 44.5) in seven innings
- Virat Kohli: 5 (average of 11.60) in 10 innings
- Shubman Gill: 0 (39 runs) in four innings
- Shreyas Iyer: 3 (average of 18.3) in seven innings
- KL Rahul: 0 (61 runs) in 7 innings
