Hazlewood plan to bounce Pujara

The right-hander batted the tourists out of the third Test with a record-breaking show of patience, spending more than 11 hours at the crease and facing 525 balls in his double-ton to break Rahul Dravid’s mark for the longest Test knock by an Indian. 

The 29-year-old will be the key wicket for Australia in the Test series decider that starts on Saturday, especially given captain Virat Kohli’s well-documented struggles with the willow. Once set he is incredibly hard to remove but if the pitch in Dharamsala has some bounce and carry then it may aid Australia’s attempts to get him cheaply. 

Very little seems to rattle Pujara, although Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have both succeeded with short balls. Pujara fended a Hazlewood bouncer in Bangalore to gully, while Starc produced an unplayable delivery in Pune. 

“Any sort of bounce is an added bonus for the quicks against most of their batters and probably him in particular,” Hazlewood said. 

“It was just a hard slog (in Ranchi). He’s a class player ... he’s definitely a key wicket. He’s got a great temperament and I guess you’ve just got to try and get under his skin somehow but he just loves batting and loves batting a long time.” 

Hazlewood tried to unsettle Pujara with both bouncers and barbs during the Indian’s man-of-the-match knock of 202 in the third Test. Neither worked. He ducked and weaved the short stuff.