Australia’s fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, is facing a setback as he’s likely to miss the opening Test against India in Nagpur due to an Achilles injury in his left leg. He remains uncertain for the subsequent Test in Delhi.
Due to Hazlewood’s unavailability, Scott Boland is expected to make his overseas Test debut. The Australian team is also facing challenges as they will be missing Mitchell Starc (finger injury) and allrounder Cameron Green who, despite making good progress in his finger injury recovery, is still unable to bowl.
Hazlewood attributed his Achilles injury partly to the damp run-ups at the SCG during the Test against South Africa in January. He also did not bowl much during Australia’s training camp in Alur near Bengaluru. Hazlewood stated that he plans to resume bowling two days prior to the Nagpur Test starting on February 9.
According to Hazlewood, “The injury is still lingering from the (Sydney) Test match.” He explained that they bowled on run-ups that became soft due to the rain and required replacement. “We bowled after a lot of rain and the jump-offs were quite soft, where we were taking off from,” he added.
According to Hazlewood, the situation was not ideal. “It sort of worked to a degree, but the extra load from jumping off a soft ground to bowl, especially in the first Test match after coming back from an injury, was not something my body was accustomed to. I was bowling quite a lot leading up to the (India) tour and was putting a lot of strain on it, which likely caused it to not recover as quickly as I would have preferred between each session.”
Hazlewood stated, “To address the issue, I decided to take a few days off from the start and try to get over the hump. I’m planning to start bowling again from Tuesday and hoping for a positive outcome.”
Boland has had six Test appearances so far and has taken 28 wickets with an average of 12.21 and strike rate of 33.2, all in Australia. Hazlewood expressed confidence in Boland, saying, “Scotty has plenty of experience bowling at the MCG, even on flat wickets, which may not have been ideal for swinging or reverse swinging. He knows how to work hard for long periods. With Lance Morris working hard on reverse swing for the past month and some good lead-in time with a few sessions, the guys are ready to play in the subcontinent. Neither of them has played there yet, but they are well-prepared to do so.”