Hazlewood stresses on bowling in partnerships

The first-choice starting line-up for Australia will include Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Hazlewood as the pacemen, and Lyon as the frontline spinner – Hazlewood feels that of them, it’s the off-spinner who holds the key for the team.

“He's the key for me with the four of us. You have Starcy, who bowls shorter spells, and sometimes Patty too, so to have Nath, it even worked well two weeks ago when we played the Shield game,” said Hazlewood.

“Nathan pretty much bowled from one end after the new ball and we filtered through from the other end. It's hard to get a run off him and he takes wickets, it's good to have that down the other end and he makes that group what it is.”

The four of them have been outstanding Test-match bowlers for a while now, and Hazlewood wants them to continue bowling in partnerships against India too.

“That was the key last year, the partnerships. We always talk about batting in partnerships. The way we bowled, it wasn't about any individual, we all took 20 wickets-plus the whole summer,” he said.

“Partnerships are a big one for us, always bowling for the guys following you. We're all leaders in our own right. With our bowling attack, we're very confident and based on last year, we had quite a good template there and it worked pretty well (in the Ashes). So we'll be looking to replicate that and test it against one of the best batting orders in the world.”

When India toured England for a five-Test series earlier this year, and lost 4-1, Virat Kohli was the standout batsman across the two sides. The India captain is expected to be the difference this time too.

“I see the Indian line-up as the best in the world, if not right up there, led by Virat, and I think they feed a lot off him and how he goes about things. If we can make some early inroads in this first Test, it's always crucial. And the first innings, if we can get on top of them early, hopefully that filters through the rest of the Test,” said Hazlewood.

“It places a little bit of pressure on us, but I think the four guys really love that. They love that extra responsibility on them. We're due for a big summer, I'm looking forward to it.”