Australia's veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood has compared his former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate Mohammed Siraj to Virat Kohli for his aggressive nature. Siraj had a brief on-field spat with Travis Head after dismissing the centurion with a yorker on Day 2 of pink-ball Test. Amidst reports of the duo getting fined, Hazlewood feels that Siraj is a good character.
"I really enjoyed my time at RCB with him. He's probably the leader of the attack there, to a degree. He's another one who's a bit like Virat (Kohli), very passionate, goes with the flow of the game, gets the crowd up. (He has) bowled serious spells in the IPL in the last few years. He's just a good character and it's good to see sometimes," Hazlewood said as quoted by Perth Now.
While Hazlewood was brought back by RCB for Rs 12.50 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, the franchise opted not to use Right to Match (RTM) card who went to Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 12.25 crore.
Hazlewood gives injury update
Hazlewood also gave an update on his fitness and said that a call will be taken within 24 hours on his availability. He will walk into the side replacing Scott Boland. In the pink-ball Test, Boland was lethal as he claimed five crucial wickets.
"It'll be how I pull up in the 24 hours following it. (It's about) cooling down pretty much fully and then going again in the same day, and the intensity has got to be right up there as well," he said (as per the aforementioned source). "I think if this (Adelaide) was the last Test of the summer, I could have potentially ran the gauntlet and played. I think I would have been in a pretty bad state by the end of the game - even though it was only a short game, it just wasn't quite right," the 33-year-old said.
The last time Hazlewood bowled against India at The Gabba, Brisbane, he claimed five wickets in the first innings. However, in the second innings, he managed to take just one wicket and India won the Test.