Kane Richardson to replace injured Hazlewood for India tour

Team India’s home season is packed with a lot of limited-overs action this season. After the Men in Blue fly back home from Sri Lanka, they will face Australia in a week’s time. Preparation seems to be in full swing for both the sides as they look to keep no box unticked. Unfortunately for Australia, Josh Hazlewood suffered a side strain in first of two-Test match series against Bangladesh which eventually ruled him out of the Test series and confirmed to be returning home.

After being originally left out of ODI squad for the five-match series against India, Australian selectors have shown their faith in 26-year-old Kane Richardson who will wear the yellow jersey after one long year. Richardson being the beneficiary of Hazlewood’s injury looks to grab the opportunity with both hands and represent the national team quite often. Richardson will be eyeing for the “fifth spot” in the fast bowling pecking order.

Richardson looks to make full use of opportunity

Knowing how things work for a side, and being pragmatic, Richardson went on to say, “I’m a bit of a realist and know it takes a few injuries to get the nod. But it’s always nice to get an opportunity to play for Australia. I’m not going to turn that down but there’s obviously three or four first-line bowlers that are injured at the moment.”

The 26-year-old has complete knowledge of Australia’s cricketing calendar and looks to be the next guy Australian selectors opt for. He said, “For me, it’s all about being the next guy in if I can be,” Richardson said.

“I know that if the four big quicks are up and about for Australia there’s probably not going to be a lot of opportunities. But for everyone else around Australia, it’s trying to be in that next group. There’s probably 10 or so behind them (Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Pattinson) jostling for positions. Any chance you get is an opportunity to put yourself in fifth or sixth position,” he added. “There’s a lot of good quicks around the country, that’s always been an area of strength of ours.”

The right-arm pacer feels that there’s pressure looming over an individual who isn’t a regular face in the side. “There’s always pressure when you play for Australia. If you don’t perform you’ve got to go back to your state and do it,” Richardson stated.

“I’m still 26. I want to play Test cricket more than anything. If performances in one-day cricket help that goal, but in saying that, there’s Chadd Sayers, Daniel Worrall, Jason Behrendorff, there’s a lot of quicks around that want it as much as you do,” he further added.

Trying to evolve as a fast bowler

Kane is a young promising fast bowler in the Australian circuit who can bowl fast and get the ball to move around as well. He believes that the game demands some serious business and for that, an individual needs to evolve over the time.

“You’re always trying to evolve as a bowler and add something you didn’t have the year before, especially in the shorter forms,” he quoted. “If you become predictable and everyone knows your game, you’re probably going to struggle. So it’s just about trying something different, trying to find new balls and something that the batsman’s not going to expect,” Richardson told cricket.com.au.