India versus Australia Test Series, 2024

2nd Test

Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the Adelaide Test due to injury

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the second Test against India, a pink-ball, day-night fixture in Adelaide starting December 6, due to a “low-grade left side injury,” Cricket Australia confirmed.

This marks Hazlewood’s first absence from a home Test against India.

For the first time since the Sydney Test in 2015, Australia will be without one of their four key bowlers—Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon—in a home Border-Gavaskar Trophy match.

The quartet had played together in nine consecutive home Tests against India.

Uncapped pacers Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett have been added to the squad, with Scott Boland expected to fill Hazlewood’s spot.

Boland, who was part of the original squad, will play in the two-day warm-up game for the Prime Minister’s XI starting on November 30.

His most recent Test appearance was during the 2023 Ashes in Leeds.

Hazlewood’s absence is a significant blow for Australia, who are trailing 0-1 in the five-match series.

Hazlewood delivered a memorable spell in the last pink-ball Test against India in Adelaide in December 2021, taking 5 for 8 in 5 overs as India collapsed to 36 for 9.

He also started this series strongly in Perth, claiming 4 for 29 in the first innings as India were bowled out for 150 and conceding just 28 runs in 21 overs in the second innings.

Abbott and Doggett both arrive following impressive Sheffield Shield performances.

Abbott, a long-time member of the Test squad, took 4 for 71 against Tasmania in the latest round and has 261 first-class wickets to his name.

Doggett, who recently claimed a five-wicket haul against Western Australia, has 11 wickets in three Shield games and impressed with career-best figures of 6 for 15 in the India A series lead-up.

Both Abbott and Doggett have previously been named in Test squads without playing—Abbott during the 2020-21 home series against India and Doggett during the 2018 Pakistan series in the UAE—while also being reserves for last year’s Ashes.