Post Perth, Aussie bowlers likely to tweak their bowling plans, admits Boland

There will be few tweaks in Australia's bowling plans against Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul for the day-night Test in Adelaide after their defeat in Perth, revealed Scott Boland, who is set to replace injured Josh Hazlewood in the playing eleven.

Hazlewood has been ruled out with a side strain and 35-year-old Boland, who has played 10 Tests since his Test debut in 2021, is top contender to bowl those hard lengths against an Indian batting line-up oozing with confidence after their second innings effort in the opening game.

“We've spoken as a team about our plans for all the different Indian batters. I won't tell you those, but we've got pretty set plans. They might have a little bit of a tweak after the guys have seen them again from Perth,” Boland told reporters after the first day's play between India and Australian Prime Minister's XI was washed out.

Jaiswal (161) and Rahul (77) added 201 runs in a record opening stand on Australian soil followed by Virat Kohli's 30th Test hundred.

“Obviously (Yashasvi) Jaiswal batted really well there. KL Rahul batted well in the second innings as well and really digged in.

“So we'll probably have a chat over the next week and our plans might slightly change, but I'm pretty confident what we did in the first games was good,” Boland said as much without letting out elaborate plans."

The troika of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood couldn't make much of an impact in India's second innings but Boland defended the three senior stars.

“I think our bowlers bowled really well as well. Maybe the only difference was that the Indian bowlers got a really nice long break between their first innings and second innings where our break wasn't as long.”

"Thought my chance has passed"

Boland can't be held wrong if at a certain time during the last season the pacer felt that he won't be able to make a comeback since Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood have been so dominant at home.

“Obviously those guys (the three fast bowlers) have been so resilient, they don't miss too many and no one must give up their spot at any stage,” Boland said.

“And they were so dominant that last summer (even when) they weren't bowling a heap of overs, but we're still able to win most of those games, so yeah, I probably thought maybe the opportunity had passed.”  Boland credited his intense rehabilitation for getting him back in the national reckoning.

"I have worked really hard in the off-season to get my body in a spot where I am confident that if I get another chance I will be able to perform for Australia again."

“I just knew if I put the conversations I had with Ron [Andrew McDonald, the head coach] and George [Bailey, the chief selector] over the pre-season - when I was rehabbing a lot was to try and get my body in the right spot - that I didn't want to rush anything and then re-injure something and then push back my return to play date. So, we took it pretty slow with my rehab.”

"There are chats but no panic as such"   

Boland accepted that individual performances will be discussed but the Australian dressing room isn't panicky after the heavy defeat in the opening Test.

“There's definitely no panic stations in our change rooms. There's obviously going to be some chats around individual performances and everyone wants to perform really well every game they play.

“But yeah, it's like, we've lost one game,” he added.