Call to play Boland in PM XI clash against India questioned after Hazlewood injury

Did Australia make a mistake by giving India’s top order a look at Scott Boland with the pink ball in Sunday’s Prime Minister’s XI clash in Canberra?

That was the question posed by SEN Cricket’s Tom Morris with Boland expected to replace the injured Josh Hazlewood in Friday’s second Test at the Adelaide Oval.

Boland bowled 10 overs on Sunday night in the loss to India in Canberra against the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal (45), KL Rahul (27 not out) and Shubman Gill (50 not out), finishing with figures of 0/36.

Morris pondered whether it would have been smarter to not give those big names practice against the Aussie seamer and he discussed the call made by selectors with Bharat Sundaresan on SEN Mornings.

Morris: “Did the Australian selectors do the right thing playing Scott Boland against India?

“Would it have been better for him and Australia to go into this game with India not having seen him with a pink ball?”

Sundaresan: “That's a great point and I was thinking about it when I saw Scott Boland bowling to the three top-order batters. It kind of got them used to facing Boland with the pink ball.

“Obviously, it happened so late when Josh Hazlewood was ruled out, but maybe they could have held him back, Scott Boland that is.

“But I think in today's day and age have played Test cricket against Scott Boland before, it’s not that they don't know what to expect from him like a young lad they haven’t seen much of at all.

“Still, it was a glorified net session in which KL Rahul and Yashavsi Jaiswal got a look at Boland, let’s see if it comes in handy in Adelaide.”

India won the tour match by six wickets after Day 1 of the scheduled two-day game was lost to weather.

The second Test in Adelaide begins on Friday at 3:00 pm (AEDT) and 2:30 pm (ACDT), listen to every ball LIVE on SEN and the SEN app.