Australia’s bid to win the Champions Trophy was a dealt a major setback Wednesday with their formidable pace attack of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood all ruled out. Cummins (ankle) and Hazlewood (side and calf) were always unlikely to play, but Starc has also withdrawn for personal reasons. Steve Smith will captain the team after standing in for Cummins during their two-Test thrashing of Sri Lanka this month. The 15-man squad is also without all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who retired from the 50-over game last week, and Mitchell Marsh who was previously omitted with a back issue.

“The squad has changed significantly over the past month on the back of some untimely injuries and the retirement of Marcus Stoinis,” said chief selector George Bailey.

“The upside of that is that we have been able to call on players who have had international exposure and success over the past 12 months. 

“A strong core of some our most experienced players will provide a strong foundation in our attempt to win this edition of the Champions Trophy,” he added. 

“We have a range of options to shape the playing XI within the tournament depending on the opposition and conditions we face.”

Starc was the only member of the “Big Three” fast bowling attack to play all seven Tests against India and Sri Lanka across the current Australian summer.

Bailey said he respected Starc’s decision, with the reasons for his withdrawal to remain private.

“Mitch is deeply respected for his commitment to international cricket and the priority he places on performing for Australia,” he said. 

“His loss is of course a blow for the Champions Trophy campaign but does provide an opportunity to someone else to make a mark on the tournament.”

Starc will also miss the two-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting in Colombo later Wednesday.

The loss of Australia’s long-time pace attack has opened the door for the likes of Spencer Johnson, Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarshuis.

Aaron Hardie takes over as the seaming all-rounder while emerging leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha was included to complement Adam Zampa.

The eight-nation Champions Trophy, between February 19 and March 9, will be played in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Adam Zampa

The Australian cricket team has made multiple changes in its squad for the 4th and the 5th Test against India – in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. One of the casualties of the changes that have been made was opening batter Nathan McSweeney who was touted to be the long-term replacement for retired David Warner. The man replacing him is 19-year-old Sam Konstas who impressed many with his century in the Prime Minister’s XI practice game against Team India in Canberra before the pink-ball Test.

McSweeney’s exclusion from the squad isn’t the only big change as marquee pacer Josh Hazlewood has also been ruled out of the remainder of the series. Hazlewood sustained an injury in the Brisbane Test that made him unavailable for the final two days of the match too. Australia have also added, Sean Abbott, Jhye Richardson and Beau Webster in the squad for the final two matches of the series.

“The squad provides options as to how we structure the XI for the final two Tests of the series,” Cricket Australia’s chairman of Selectors George Bailey in an official statement.

“Sam gets a call-up to the Test squad for the first time. His style of batting offers a point of difference and we look forward to watching his game develop further.

Bailey said that Australia are still counting on McSweeney’s potential and it was a difficult decision to drop him from the squad for the 3rd and the 4th Test.

“We remain confident Nathan has the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level in the future. It was a difficult decision to leave him out.

“It has clearly been a challenge at the top of the order for batters throughout the series and we want to provide the option of a different line-up for the next two matches.”

Scott Boland and Jhye Richardson unarguably remain the top two options to replace Josh Hazlewood in the playing XI for Australia.

“In the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Jhye provides further options in the fast bowling space. It has been pleasing to see his successful return throughout the early part of the domestic summer,” he added.

Australia squad for last two Tests against India: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Beau Webster, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jhye Richardson, Alex Carey, Scott Boland, and Josh Inglis.

Virat Kohli‘s struggles with the bat continued in the third Test match against Australia in Brisbane as the star batter was dismissed cheaply once again. Kohli’s problems with balls outside the off-stump once again proved to be his downfall as he edged a delivery off Josh Hazlewood to Alex Carey behind the stumps. Former India batter Aakash Chopra believes that Kohli should have left the ball alone considering his struggles against similar deliveries. Chopra also recalled Sachin Tendulkar‘s 241 in Sydney where he did not play a single cover drive and remarked that Kohli should take inspiration from that knock.

“I remember the Sydney Test match after Sachin Tendulkar was repeatedly getting out to deliveries outside the off-stump. Can Virat Kohli do that? He will have to do that because if he keeps getting out like this, the vulnerability will be exposed even more,” the former India opener said on YouTube.

Chopra also said that Kohli was struggling against short-pitch deliveries and his struggles were once again revealed while playing against Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

“You know that he (Kohli) is not at the top of his game. So what is the road ahead?” he added.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul credited tailenders Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah for their unbeaten 39-run partnership for the last wicket that avoided a follow-on in the third Test against Australia on Tuesday.

The pacers batted their hearts out to rescue India from a dire situation on rain-hit Day 4 in Brisbane. India were 252/9 at stumps with Akash remaining unbeaten on 27 off 31 balls while Bumrah went not out on 10 runs. India still trail by 193 runs, and the possible result of the match depends on the weather conditions on Wednesday.

“It’s very good to see when the lower order chips in and scores runs. That’s something that we discuss a lot in our meetings and the bowlers work really hard on their batting as well and so it’s really good to see that they could go there and get that little partnership and avoid the follow-on makes a huge difference knowing that there’s a bit of rain around and so much of the game has been lost to rain. We need to find a way to stay in the game and I think Akash and Bumrah did that at the end and so a good way to end the day for us,” Rahul, who scored 84 in the match, said in the press conference at the end of the day’s play.

“I’m happy that they could really play some shots and very exciting shots and it was a great contest at the end, the last half an hour, when they batted not just the runs that they got, just the heart that they showed to keep away the bouncers. There’s a lot of pace and bounce in the wickets, so to get behind the ball, defend really well, leave the ball and hit some nice shots is really good. It will give them confidence and will give us as a group a lot of confidence,” he added.

(With IANS inputs)

Australian cricket team in action© AFP

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood’s further participation in the ongoing third Test is in doubt after going off the field with calf soreness in the first session on Day 4. Hazlewood arrived late on the field at the start of play and appeared to struggle when he began his spell, rarely exceeding 131 kmph. His first delivery was a wide long hop, which KL Rahul cut away with ease. During the drinks break following that over, Hazlewood engaged in an extended discussion with Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, and physio Nick Jones before leaving the field.

Cricket Australia confirmed Hazlewood’s injury and said the pacer will undergo scans to assess the severity of the injury.

“Josh Hazlewood reported calf awareness in this morning’s warm-up. He will be taken for scans to assess the injury,” a CA spokesperson said.

Coming into the third Test, Australia made only one change in their playing 11 with Hazlewood replacing Scott Boland. Hazlewood missed the second Test in Adelaide Oval due to side strain.

In Hazlewood’s likely absence for the remainder of the match, Cummins will rely on Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne for pace bowling options.

At lunch, India were 167/6 in 49 overs after KL Rahul struck 84, completing his second half-century of the series. He was the only Indian batter who looked prepared for Australian pacers despite being repeatedly tested on the outside off-stump line. His front-foot defense and art of leaving the ball frustrated Australian pacers in the opening session.

However, Rahul made an error in shot selection and played Nathan Lyon’s front-foot ball on the back-foot to only find Steve Smith, who dropped Rahul on 33, at slip.

The opening session of the day was a shared contest between the two sides. Australia bagged two crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma (10) and Rahul (84) while India added 116 runs to the scoreboard in the extended opening session, which saw 32 overs being bowled despite a brief rain interruption.

For India, Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy are unbeaten at 41 and 7, respectively. India still need 79 runs to avoid follow-on and trail Australia by 278 runs.

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh on Monday conceded that fielding at gully makes him the “most nervous”, particularly because of Cameron Green’s excellent reputation in that position. Green is not playing in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy owing to a spine injury, but Marsh has stepped intox that role with some degree of comfort, underlined by his flying catch to dismiss India batter Shubman Gill on day three of the Third Test here.

“Yeah, I think since I’ve come back into the Test team, fielding at gully is probably when I feel the most nervous because Green is likely to go down as one of the best ever. If you drop one there, you’re always compared to him,” Marsh said during the post-day press conference.

Marsh’s brilliant catch off left-arm quick Mitchell Starc led to Gill’s dismissal for one as India ended Day 3 on a precarious 51 for four.

“Any time I can do something like that — I probably didn’t even need to dive, to be fair — but I thought it had a bit of a moment, and it is a fun team. It’s a great team to be a part of.

“So, yeah, I like fielding there, but honestly, being at square leg is just as good.” Marsh was happy to see the hosts scoring 445 in their first innings.

“I think when you get sent in and you make 450, it’s always positive, and then I guess you earn the right to attack, especially early with the ball. Like I said before, now it’s just about how do we try and take 20 wickets. We’ve got six more to get, and then we just assess from there.” Asked if they would enforce the follow-on, he said: “I think we’ve got six wickets to take first, but we know that we’ve got to take 20 wickets to try and win this Test and I guess all the conversations and all the planning will be, how do we do that…

“So, hopefully the weather holds off, and then tomorrow it’s just about coming in, having a crack, and see where we get to.” After their humiliating defeat in the opening Test in Parth, Australia have been able to get on top of the Indian batters.

“I think we bowled really well. Today was no different, and we’ve been able to take wickets with the new ball, albeit the second innings in Perth.

“Our bowling attack has some great bowlers, and they’re attacking, they look to take wickets all the time, and hopefully that can continue.” Premier batter Virat Kohli once again fell prey to his longstanding vulnerability outside the off-stump, chasing a delivery pitched wide and edging it to the wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

Kohli came to bat with India reeling at 6/2 and he got out for 3 to further compound their misery.

Reflecting on Kohli’s wicket, Marsh continued: “There’s no real talk about that (Kohli dismissal). I think it’s more just, every time he comes to the crease, we know he’s a big wicket for them.

“He’s one of the greatest players ever, so it’s just about being really diligent and trying to execute your plans. And I guess it’s always nice to see the back of one of the game’s greats.” With several rain interruptions in the third Test, Marsh said there’s a constant check on the weather website.

“We’re always asking for the radar and what’s happening. Obviously two days to go, and I think there’s still plenty of time for a result, but let’s hope that the weather stays away over the next few days,” he added.

Mohammed Siraj’s hot temper has become a topic of discussion but Australian quick Josh Hazlewood says the Indian pacer is a “good character” who fires up the crowd and is passionate about the game like Indian superstar Virat Kohli. Siraj was involved in two incidents where his temper flared during the pink-ball Test that India lost by 10 wickets. In Australia’s first innings, Siraj threw the ball wide off the stumps near Marnus Labuschagne after the Australian batter pulled away from his stance, forcing the bowler to halt his run-up.

This occurred when a man holding a tower of beer cups walked into Labuschagne’s line of sight. The next day, Siraj was involved in a verbal altercation with Travis Head soon after cleaning him up, drawing the ire of the Adelaide crowd which booed him.

“He’s just a good character and it’s good to see sometimes,” said Hazlewood, who shared the dressing room with both Siraj and Kohli during his time at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

“I really enjoyed my time at RCB with Siraj. He’s probably the leader of the attack there, to a degree. He’s another one who’s a bit like Virat, very passionate, goes with the flow of the game, gets the crowd up. He has bowled serious spells in the IPL in the last few years,” he added.

Hazlewood, who missed the second Test due to a side strain, had dismissed Kohli for 5 in the first innings in the opening Test at Perth. It was the fourth time the Australian quick dismissed Kohli in red-ball cricket.

“It just comes down to who executes well on the day, whether he leaves you well until the ball gets soft or someone else comes on the balls and doesn’t ball quite well enough,” he said.

“There’s a lot of match-ups like that throughout international cricket. You know, we’ve played each other so much. If you’ve been around for 10 years, you pretty much know each other inside out.” Hazlewood said the current crop of batters are much more eager to go after the ball as compared to the players who wielded the willow 10 years ago.

“There are different players in different teams there are some players you really need to be patient with. There are others who come after you, so you don’t have to be patient but they are dangerous because they can score.

“I don’t think betters are probably as patient as they were 10 years ago. They like to feel the ball and we’ve seen the way England play and even players in the Indian team with (Rishabh) Pant and (Nitish) Reddy and guys like that.” India suffered a 10-wicket loss in the pink ball Test as Australia levelled the five match series 1-1 following their 295-run loss in the opener. The two sides now head to Brisbane for the third match, starting December 14.

Australia have lost the last two matches in the Gabba and will look to get back to winning ways at the venue, where they have done well, traditionally.

The last time they played at the Gabba, pacer Shamar Joseph ripped through Australia to fashion West Indies 8-run win in the day night fixture.

“We always play pretty well in Brisbane (but) the last Test was obviously pink-ball,” Hazlewood said.

“The pink-ball gets quite soft in Brisbane quite early on, with the wicket being quite hard, it doesn’t have that thatch grass that we see here at Adelaide.

“So we’re back to the red-ball there, which suits us. We obviously haven’t won recently up there, but it’s a place we like to play as it suits our guys.

“It’s an experienced team, so we’ve all been there a lot of times. It’s probably more just the time difference – the going from day-night and sleeping in – to your sleeping patterns, getting that adjusted and getting back on track.”

File photo of Sunil Gavaskar and Josh Hazlewood© AFP

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood will take no part in the pink-ball Test against India, starting in Adelaide on Friday, having been ruled out of the match owing to a side strain. Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers for Australia in the series-opener as he returned match figures of 5/57, but couldn’t evite a 295-run loss in Perth. He claimed four in the first innings as India were bowled for 150 in the first innings. However, Australia crumbled to 106 all out, giving India the upper hand which the visitors did not throw away.

Chasing 534 in the second innings, Australia slumped to 238 all out to lose the game by 295 runs.

Hazlewood, however, fueled rumours of a rift in the dressing room, having seemingly suggested at a press conference that the batters should be held responsible for the collapse.

As Hazlewood was ruled out of the day-night game in Adelaide, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar hinted that the pacer was dropped from the team, due to his remarks at the press conference.

“The panic in the Australian ranks is palpable, with former players calling for heads to be chopped off and some even hinting at cracks in the Australian team after Josh Hazlewood’s media interview at the end of the third day’s play, where he suggested that it was up to the batters to now do something,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

“Now, a few days later, Hazlewood is out of the second Test and possibly the series too with a supposed side strain. Strange, that, since nobody had noticed anything wrong with Hazlewood at that media conference. Mystery, mystery – the like of which used to be common in Indian cricket in the past. Now, it’s the Aussies and like Old McDonald, I’m simply loving it,” he added.

Reacting to the comments made by Gavaskar, Australia batter Travis Head hit back at the former India captain, labelling his comments as ‘funny’.

“I was surprised at Sunny’s comments. They were pretty funny. Dropping ‘Hoff’ (Hazlewood) and throwing a couple of daggers and shooting across the bow, but who cares? It is what it is. Everyone is paid to have an opinion,” Head told The Willow Talk Podcast.

Former Australia captain Aaron Finch also rubbished the remarks made by Gavaskar.

“It’s not jabs anymore. Sunny is throwing haymakers over the top. It’s quite funny because, having spent a lot of time with him during the first test, he was not saying things like that. He was very respectful of the current Australian group. But now he has just gone bang,” Finch told ESPNcricinfo.

Pacer Scott Boland will replace injured Josh Hazlewood in the upcoming Adelaide Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against India as Australia skipper Pat Cummins named the playing eleven, as reported by cricket.com.au. The Adelaide Test will be Boland’s first match for Australia in the last 18 months. Skipper Cummins also confirmed that Mitchell Marsh will be fit to bowl in the Adelaide Test, according to cricket.com.au. Boland’s previous Test was against England in the prestigious Ashes 2023 series. The 35-year-old will be replacing Hazlewood who suffered an injury during the Perth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

On the other hand, Marsh has been added to the playing eleven even after battling with back stiffness, which stopped him from bowling at full tilt during India’s second innings in the Perth Test, as per cricket.com.au.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Cummins said that it’s “pretty awesome” to have Scott Boland in the squad.

“It’s pretty awesome for someone like Scotty to come straight in,” Cummins was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying.

Meanwhile, India are yet to name their playing eleven for the upcoming pink-ball Test.

The Adelaide test will kickstart from December 6 onwards, with India heading into the game with a mental and physical edge over the Aussies who were left devastated by Bumrah’s bowling and captaincy during a 295-run loss at Perth’s Optus Stadium in the first Test.

However, the visitors would be looking to overcome the ghosts of the 2020 Adelaide pink-ball Test, which saw them being bundled out for their lowest Test score of 36 runs, starting that series on a nightmarish note. Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) had run riot over the Indian line-up in the second innings, getting an easy target of 90 runs to chase.

Australia Playing XI for the Second Test: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.