Australia have suffered a major setback ahead of the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy as pacer Josh Hazlewood will not be available for them in Adelaide. Hazlewood has suffered a side strain and therefore has been ruled out of the pink-ball game.
Cricket Australia have described the injury as a “low-grade left-side injury”. The hosts have added Brendan Doggett and Sean Abbott as cover for the day-night affair at the Adelaide Oval.
Both Doggett and Abbott are uncapped in the red-ball format of the game. Doggett has played 40 first-class games and bagged 142 wickets at a bowling average of 28.63. He has also snared nine four-wicket hauls and four five-wicket hauls so far. He is yet to make his international debut for Australia in any format.
On the other hand, Abbott has already represented Australia in both white-ball formats. The right-arm pacer has played 87 first-class games and claimed 261 wickets at 30.38. The 32-year-old has 12 four-fors and eight five-wicket hauls to his credit in the first-class circuit.
However, it seems highly likely that right-arm pacer Scott Boland will get the nod ahead of them in the second Test. Boland will also be a part of the Prime Minister’s XI in the two-day pink-ball warm-up game against India at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. The warm-up game will begin on Saturday (November 30).
Australia are going to miss Hazlewood very badly as he was their wrecker-in-chief in the first innings of the series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth with figures of 4/29. He was also very hard to put away in the second innings as he finished with figures of 1/28 in 21 overs.
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Notably, Hazlewood had bagged memorable and match-winning figures of 5/8 in Adelaide when the last time India played a Test at the venue during their 2020/21 tour.
