Josh Hazlewood's remarks during a post-match interview on the third day of the Perth Test between India and Australia sparked a controversy. Former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan questioned whether Hazlewood's comments resulted a possible rift between Australia's batters and bowlers.
When asked how the Australian batters planned to tackle the significant target set by India in their second innings, Hazlewood's response drew attention and fueled speculation about the dynamics within the Australian dressing room.
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"You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters," said Hazlewood.
Coming to the pre-match conference before the second Test, Pat Cummins criticized several commentators for misinterpreting the situation and accused them of attempting to generate headlines by dragging Josh Hazlewood's name into the controversy.
"The team's great. Some of the commentators got it a hundred per cent wrong. We prepared like we always do. It's a great feeling around the team. When things don't go right, there are enough commentators who will support you but some that will try and create headlines. We try not to notice those things. We try to concentrate our focus on how we prepare, give ourselves the best chance to win the games," Pat Cummins said.
"When you are playing at home, any Test match will give pressure. When you are down, there is a little bit more. We have been in similar situations before, whether it is World Cups or other series, where you are in must-win situations. We are not there yet at the moment. We love playing here, we love playing in Australia. We know that we were not at our best last week, we know things that we had to work on. Excited for the last 4 Test matches. Everyone in this team has got personal pride, professional pride," he added.
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