Josh Hazlewood opens up on importance of getting the key wicket of Pujara early on

Josh Hazlewood said that Cheteshwar Pujara's wicket is a huge one and according to him is probably a key wicket as well. Justifying further, Hazlewood mentioned that if Australia can succeed in getting rid of Pujara early, then they can put pressure on India's middle-order with a relatively hard and newish ball.

'It is huge': Josh Hazlewood

"It is huge. He (Pujara) is obviously, probably the key wicket, one of the couple of key wickets there at the top order. If we can knock Pujara early, we get five, six, seven numbers in with a relatively hard and newish ball, so he plays a massive role for them and Patty (Pat Cummins) obviously has been on top of him this whole series", said Hazlewood during the virtual press conference after the end of play on Day 3.

"He has still batted a bit of time here and there but we have really squeezed on the runs and I think that is playing on in his mind and bringing to his downfall", the tall pacer added. 

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Out of the seven innings that Pujara has played so far in this series, Hazlewood has dismissed him twice while his bowling partner Patrick Cummins has got the Gujarat cricketer's number on four occasions.

In fact, Josh Hazlewood had accounted for the number three batsman just when he was well-set and was holding the innings from one end on Day 3.

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Hazlewood deceives Pujara with an almost unplayable delivery

This happened in the 39th over of India's first innings. On the penultimate delivery, Hazlewood had bowled a length delivery around the off-stump which straightened up after pitching and Pujara brought his bat ahead to defend the ball. However, the ball takes the outside edge of his bat and goes straight into the gloves of Test skipper Tim Paine who does not make any mistake behind the stumps.

It was indeed a much-needed breakthrough for the Aussies, as the Rajkot batsman had made them toil hard. In the end, Hazlewood had the last laugh as the Test specialist took a long walk back to the pavilion for a 94-ball 25. 

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