Josh Hazlewood is set to miss at least the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India, which begins on Thursday, due to an injury.
The pace bowler is expected to be unavailable for the opening Test in Nagpur due to the left Achilles injury which has been troubling him since the SCG win over South Africa last month.
It is likely to leave the Aussies without three bowling options – the 32-year-old plus Mitchell Starc (finger) and Cameron Green (finger, may play but unlikely to bowl unless his recovery continues at a rapid pace).
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It would leave Scott Boland as the most likely man to partner Pat Cummins, with Lance Morris next in line.
Boland, who has not played a Test overseas, and Cummins took the new ball during match simulation drills on Sunday in Alur, reports Cricket.com.au.
The Aussies could yet select three fast bowlers in their XI but a pair, plus two spinners (expected to be Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar) along with all-rounder Green (if healthy) is viewed as the most likely scenario.
With just three days between the first and second Tests, Hazlewood will be racing the clock for the latter in Delhi as well.
“Not sure about the first Test. It’s still a few days away but it’s sneaking up pretty quickly. Second one is obviously straight after as well. So, we’ll play it by ear over the next week and next few days and hopefully Tuesday goes well,” Hazlewood told reporters.
“Just a bit of workload management at the moment. Just managing the Achilles. I was bowling a fair bit leading into the tour at home and sort of just pushing up against it.
“Probably wasn’t recovering as well as I would have liked between each session so thought we’d give it a few days here straight of the bat and try and get over the hump and have a bowl from Tuesday on (in Nagpur) and hope it goes well.”
He explained the damp run-ups at the SCG played a part in the injury.
“It’s still lingering from the (Sydney) Test match probably,” Hazlewood said.
“We obviously bowled after a lot of rain and the jump-offs were quite soft, where we were taking off from and they ended up replacing them as well.
“It sort of worked to a degree. But just that extra load jumping off a soft ground to bowl and again first Test match. Your body is not used to that sort of workload as well.”
Australia squad for tour of India: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
