Daniel Vettori explains how rain helped Australia deal with Josh Hazlewood injury blow

Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori spoke to journalists after the day’s play and broke down how the constant rain interruptions had helped the team cope with Hazlewood’s absence.

“Obviously, Hazlewood is one of the best bowlers in the world, so it affects the team. I think the weather allowed us to operate in terms of the breaks. It allowed Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins to be able to come back on multiple occasions, whereas if we had played out the full 90 overs, it would have been a lot tougher day to manage, and obviously we always have the luxury of Nathan (Lyon) and his ability to bowl a lot of overs. So that alleviated a little bit of the concern, but it’s always a tough one with a world-class bowler being out,” said Vettori.

He added that the Australians would have enforced a follow on, if India had fallen short of the mark.

“I think the only way to force a game was to force a follow-on, so I think there was a desperation to get that final wicket, and we thought we had a really good chance when Jadeja was dismissed, but a real fighting partnership from Bumrah indeed!”

Talking about Hazlewood’s mood, Vettori said: “He’s pretty despondent. It’s just unfortunate for him to come back and put so much effort in after another injury with a side strain from the last Test and then to pick up a calf injury here, particularly in these circumstances, was really tough on him.”