The Australian touring squad in India, which has been hammered mercilessly in the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23 and is in danger of a series whitewash, faced further trouble on Monday when their star fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the remaining two Tests to be played in Indore and Ahmedabad.
It is also likely that out of form opening batsman David Warner, who is also under heavy fire from media and fans for repeatedly failing in red-ball cricket in India despite having a vast experience of playing in these conditions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is also to be sent home following the fitness concerns that he experienced in the second Test in New Delhi.
The left-handed opening batsman David Warner suffered a hairline fracture to his elbow after suffering a hit from Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, and he was eventually ruled out of the second test which was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi last week due to concussion as he had suffered another blow to his helmet.
David Warner was placed by Matthew Renshaw for the remainder of the second Test but the young batsmen also failed to make a mark despite getting a rare opportunity.
It also must be noted that Australia captain Pat Cummins, under fire for how his team has performed in the first two matches of the series, will be returning home during the 10 day break between the second and the third test. Pat Cummins is heading back home in Sydney to attend a family matter and he will return to India but before the start of the third Test at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald informed the media,
“Josh Hazlewood out, he’ll be going home. [Warner]’s still sore at the moment. We had a meeting just before discussing through this. We’re in no rush to make any decisions at this point in time around Davey. Just seeing how that settles, how functional that is.
“It will be basically how sore and how functional it is as to what decision we make with him and then the length of the injury. There’s some talk the length of injury could be anywhere between a week plus depending how that settles down. There’s a bit of unknown there. I’ll leave that to the medical team and they’ll inform me once they know,”
Andrew McDonald added.
The injury to Josh Hazlewood would particularly be frustrating for Australia as the lanky fast bowler, who is among the vital cogs in their bowling line-up, has missed plenty of Test cricket over the last two years — a time period in which his fortunes horizon have risen incredibly high in the shorter formats especially in T20s.