Josh Hazlewood Ruled Out Of 2nd Test Due To Injury

Star Aussie seamer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the second test against India in Adelaide, which is a pink ball day-night match from December 6, due to a 'low grade left side injury', Cricket Australia stated.

This will be the very first time that Hazlewood will be missing a home test match against India since the Sydney Test in 2015. For the first time, the Australian Cricket team will be fielding an 11 without their premium quartet of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins & Nathan Lyon in a home BGT fixture. All four players have played 9 consecutive home test matches against India.

Australia has added two uncapped seamers Sean Abbott & Brendan Doggett into their squad as cover. However, the Kangaroos are likely to fill the void of Hazlewood by playing Scott Boland who is a part of the test squad. Boland will be playing in the 2-day pink ball practice match against India representing the Prime Ministers 11. Boland last featured for Australia in a test match against England in the Ashes test at Leeds.

Boland known for bowling probing lines & unreal consistency will be a big threat with the seaming & swinging pink ball on a bouncy Adelaide track. Boland last played a test against India in the WTC final at the Oval picking up 5 wickets in two innings including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli in the second innings.

Hazlewood's absence is a big jolt to Australia who are currently behind in the series by 0-1. Last time when these two sides played a pink ball at Adelaide Hazlewood wreaked havoc in India's abysmal record of 36-all out with the figures of 5-8 in five overs including three maidens. In the first test at Perth too Hazelwood troubled India in the first innings picking up 4-29 to ensure India was bowled out for 150 in the first innings. During the second innings when every Aussie bowler was being thwacked by the Indian batting, Hazlewood managed to be the pick of the bowlers by conceding just 28 runs in 21 overs.

Both Abbott and Doggett are selected on the back of impressive performances in the Sheffield Shield. Abbott, who has been on the bench of the Test squad for a while, picked 4 for 71 in 16 overs against Tasmania at the SCG in the last round of the Sheffield Shield and comes with 261 first-class wickets to his name.

Doggett meanwhile, bagged a five-fer against Western Australia recently, to take his wickets tally up to 11 in three Shield matches. He also picked a 6-wicket haul against India A in the unofficial test at Mackay in the build-up to the five-match series.

Both the uncapped pacers were previously picked in the Test squad without getting a match - Doggett during the series against Pakistan in UAE in 2018, and Abbott during the 2020-21 home series against India, while also being in the squad as a reserve in last year's Ashes.