Published: Feb 05, 2023, 10:34 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 05, 2023, 11:22 AM (IST)
Nagpur: After bowling in the Sydney Test last month, Aussie star pacer Josh Hazlewood sustained an Achilles injury on his left leg, which he has not fully recovered from. As a result, he is likely to miss the first half of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. This is a huge blow considering that Australia would already be playing without Mitchell Strac for the early part of the series.
Except for assisting his teammates with their training, Hazlewood has not taken part in Australia’s pre-series camp in Alur. His absence from the first Test will allow an opening for Scott Boland to play his first overseas Test. However, his availability for the second Test in Delhi is also uncertain due to the short time between matches.
“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 said before Australia’s final session at the KSCA Stadium on Sunday, Feb 5.
“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 added.
“It’s still the same mindset. It’s still about taking every game as it comes. It’s obviously a huge tour and a long tour as well. It’s four Tests. It’s not a two-Test series where you might push things to get up for it. Four Tests is a long time and the Ashes is there as well and there’s cricket all the time. It’s just about getting it right, you don’t want it lingering around for months on end. The Achilles is a hard one, being a tendon it’s couple of steps forward, one step back occasionally, which is how it goes for everyone when they’ve got this type of injury. Feels like it’s heading in the right direction,” Hazlewood said while talking about shifting his focus on test cricket considering Australia’s major schedule this year.
Australia would be hoping for their marquee bowlers to recover well and soon as the series would be a tough test for Pat Cummins and company. Turning tables on Team India at their home without your full strength is an extremely hard task.
