Josh Hazlewood has succumbed to a left Achilles tendon injury, joining fellow Australia quick Mitchell Starc on the sidelines to start the blockbuster tour of India.
The injury is another setback for Hazlewood and a major blow for Australia’s pace stocks, with allrounder Cameron Green unlikely to bowl if he plays in the series opener in Nagpur from Thursday.
Hazlewood’s setback gives Victorian paceman Scott Boland a golden opportunity to play his first Test outside Australia. Boland’s average is a staggering 12.21 after six Tests, but bowling on India’s typically flat pitches is likely to present a serious challenge.
Uncapped West Australian speedster Lance Morris is the remaining fast bowler in the 18-man squad, but Australia might not play their customary three quicks in spin-friendly conditions. First-choice spinner Nathan Lyon has Ashton Agar, Todd Murphy and Mitchell Swepson as his fellow specialist slow-bowlers in the squad.
“Scotty has bowled plenty at the MCG when it was a flat wicket [and] probably wasn’t swinging or reverse swinging, so he knows how to work hard for a long period of time,” Hazlewood said at Australia’s training camp in Bangalore on Sunday. “You’ve got Lance Morris who has worked hard on reverse swing for the last month and then a nice lead-in here with a few sessions. The guys are excited first of all to play in the subcontinent; they both haven’t yet, but they’re very well qualified to do so.”
Hazlewood has endured a frustrating 18 months after missing four of the five Ashes Tests of 2021-22 and again being injured early this summer. He returned for the drawn New Year’s Test against South Africa in Sydney but admits the injury is still “lingering from then”.
“Just that extra load jumping off a soft ground to bowl, and again first Test match [back from injury] – your body is not used to that sort of workload as well,” Hazlewood said. “I was bowling a fair bit leading into the [India] tour at home and sort of just pushing up against it. 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 off the bat and try and get over the hump and have a bowl from Tuesday and hope it goes well.”
Starc is expected to be available for the second Test in Nagpur, but there is only three days between that and the second match in Delhi. The injury list means Pat Cummins will have to shoulder much of the fast bowling load in his first Test series in India as captain.
Cummins has lost just one Test since becoming Australia skipper in November 2021. The 29-year-old will join a legendary group of leaders if Australia are able to win a Test series in India for the first time in 19 years. The last time Australia were successful on Indian soil, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting steered a golden generation of Australia cricketers to victory back in 2004.