Josh Hazlewood becomes Australia's most successful pacer vs India (Tests)
Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has broken Brett Lee's record to become Australia's most successful pacer in Test matches against India. He achieved the feat during the ongoing first Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Optus Stadium in Perth. Hazlewood picked four wickets in the first innings, taking his tally to 55 wickets from 29 innings of 16 Tests against India. His four-fer meant India were folded for just 150 on Day 1.
A fine spell from Hazlewood
In the ongoing match, Hazlewood got rid of Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli in the morning session. Padikkal, who faced 23 balls, failed to score any runs and was caught behind by Alex Carey. Kohli, who has over 2,000 runs in Tests against Australia, was caught by Usman Khawaja after scoring a mere five runs off 12 balls. Tail-enders Harshit Rana (7) and Jasprit Bumrah (8) were his final two victims.
Australia's top wicket-takers in Tests against India
As per ESPNcricinfo, record for most wickets in Tests for Australia against India is held by off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who has 121 scalps in 28 matches. Following Lyon, Hazlewood, and Lee (53) on this list are Richie Benaud (52), Glenn McGrath (51), Pat Cummins (50), Mitchell Johnson (50), and Mitchell Starc (50). Starc completed his half-century of Test wickets vs India in the ongoing game as well.
Four fifers vs India
Hazlewood made his Test debut in December 2014 against India and bagged a five-wicket haul. He has overall raced to 56 scalps across 16 Tests against the team at 25.50. Interestingly, four of his 12 Test five-fers have been recorded against the Indian team. 46 of his wickets against India have come in 12 home Tests at 24.08.
Here are his overall numbers
Earlier this year, Hazlewood surpassed 250 wickets in Test cricket. The veteran pacer has now raced to 277 wickets from 71 Test matches, averaging 24.57 runs per wicket. He now has 11 four-wicket hauls and 12 five-wicket hauls in his career. Hazlewood has been a huge success in matches played on Australian soil, picking 166 Test wickets from 40 matches at an average of 22.67.
