Australia v India, first Test: India coy on Shubman Gil, Hazlewood doesn’t buy into mind games

Australia has brushed off any attempts at ducks and drakes from the cagey India despite the tourists springing a surprise while remaining coy on the status of top order star Shubman Gill.

Australia has brushed off any attempts at ducks and drakes from the cagey India despite the tourists springing a last minute surprise on Wednesday while remaining coy on the status of top order star Shubman Gill.

Having trained behind closed doors for several days at the WACA Ground last week, and not scheduled any press conferences for well over a week since arriving in Perth, India finally offered a frontman on Wednesday in the form of champion spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

That was until an 11th hour change of plans, when Ashwin was replaced by India bowling coach and former South African paceman Morne Morkel.

While Morkel insisted that there was nothing untoward about the shift - claiming that it came about because of meetings running late - it gave further oxygen to the longstanding idea that very few teams like to keep the public and the opposition guessing quite like India.

READ MORE: Six Indian unknowns Australia must fear

India remain coy on the status of Shubman Gill, who has not yet been ruled out of the first Test, Picture: Getty Images

That even extended to the status of Gil, who has still not officially been ruled out of the first Test with the thumb injury - reportedly a fracture - he picked up while fielding during match simulation over the weekend.

“Shubman is improving every day. Obviously he picked up a nasty blow in that warm-up game, in the squad game. I think with him, it’s going to be a day to day sort of process. fingers crossed for that improvement. But I think they’ll wait to make a call with him up until the morning of the Test match,” Morkel said.

But no-nonsense paceman Josh Hazlewood said Australia was taking the situation in its stride.

“We roll up regardless,” Hazlewood said.

“I don’t think there’s anything that you haven’t seen in Test cricket before. It’s going to come down to bowling on that area and batting with basics and trying to outlast them. I guess there’s no real secrets behind those closed doors of Indian sessions. We’ve seen a lot of them. We play with them all the time. We play against them. So there’s no real secrets in international cricket.”

Aussie paceman Josh Hazlewood believes there’s no real reason for teams to keep secrets. Picture: Getty Images

Morkel conceded that in an age of analytics it was hard to keep much from the opposition.

“I think there’s so much information nowadays you know about players, and we play so much cricket,” Morkel said.

“It’s going to be about small margins. It’s going to be two great teams that’s going to play attacking brand of cricket, and with ball in hand, how can you handle that pressure?

“But in terms of keeping things under wraps, I think it’s very hard. You know, things always find a way to leak. And like I said, it’s a lot of information nowadays on any player and stats on venues.”.

While Hazlewood suggested that he isn’t overly perturbed about the final makeup of the Indian XI, he is pleased to see the back of ironman batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been a crucial figure in India’s Test series wins on these shores in 2018-19 and 2020-21 but has not played a Test since being dropped after India’s World Test Championship final loss to Australia at The Oval last year.

“I’m pretty happy that Puj isn’t here,” Hazlewood said.

Josh Hazlewood is happy to see the back of Indian star Cheteshwar Pujara. Picture: AFP

“He’s obviously one that bats time, makes you really earn his wicket every time, has done really well in Australia on all these tours.

“(But) there’s always young, fresh guys coming into the Indian team that they’re under so much pressure to perform in the Indian team with so many guys nipping at their heels all the time. Whoever they pick in that XI, they’re unbelievable players. It doesn’t really matter who they pick, they’re all great players.”

And while India is likely to be without both Gill and captain Rohit Sharma - who is yet to arrive Down Under following the birth of his child - Hazlewood is wary of those waiting in the wings.

“Anytime you disrupt the top six it’s a bit of an issue but as I said the amount of talent in the Indian squad is quite unbelievable, the depth is phenomenal, better than any other country in the world. So whoever comes in has earned their stripes and no doubt will do well.”

Originally published as Australia v India, first Test: India coy on Shubman Gil, Hazlewood doesn’t buy into mind games