Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia's Josh Hazlewood ruled out of first Test against India

Josh Hazlewood on Sunday confirmed that he will miss the first Test against India in the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Nagpur, starting on February 9. Hazlewood said the left Achilles tendon he suffered last month was still causing him problems and he would miss at least the first game of the series. However, the short turnaround time for the second Test could mean the right-arm paceman is racing against time to be fit for the game in Delhi. Hazlewood joins Mitchell Starc in the casualty ward of the first game in Nagpur.

This could mean that Scott Boland could get a chance to play in the first Test against India. Hazlewood has backed Boland to perform well if he gets the nod for the first game. "Scotty bowled a lot at the MCG when it was a flat wicket, probably not swing or reverse swing, so he knows how to work hard for a long time," Hazlewood said.

Hazlewood has spoken out about his injury, saying he had the problem from the SCG Test against South Africa last month and it was caused by the wet pitch in Sydney. "It's still lingering from the (Sydney) Test match," Hazlewood said of his injury.

"Obviously we bowled in a lot of rain and the jumps were quite soft where we started from and they ended up replacing them too. It worked to a certain extent but it was that extra weight bouncing off the soft ground onto the bowl and again the first test match (back after injury), your body is not used to such a load," he added.