Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood will miss this week's opening Test against India due to injury, opening the door for fellow paceman Scott Boland to make his aboard red-ball debut.
A niggling Achilles issue has forced the veteran bowler to be sidelined for Australia's Test preparations ahead of Thursday's match in Nagpur, with Hazlewood revealing the ailment has emerged after bowling on the soft surface at the SCG last month.
"It's still lingering from the (Sydney) Test match," Hazlewood said, viaย cricket.com.au.ย
"We obviously bowled after a lot of rain and the jump-offs were quite soft where we were taking off from, and they ended up replacing them as well.
"It sort of worked to a degree, but just that extra load jumping off a soft ground to bowl and again first Test match (back from injury) your body is not used to that sort of workload as well.
"I was bowling a fair bit leading into the (India) tour at home and sort of just pushing up against it. 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 and hope it goes well."
Hazlewood's setback is another blow to Australia's bowling attack for the first of four Tests against India, with Mitchell Starc (finger) already rule out of the match.
All-rounder Cameron Green's selection remains up in the air, with the middle-order batsman unable to bowl in the opening Test, prompting selectors to weigh up his position in their preferred XI.
The string of setbacks have placed Boland in the frame for a return to Australia's XI after he was omitted for the Sydney Test, with selectors favouring Hazlewood and spinner Ashton Agar for the third Test of the series against South Africa.
Selectors are set to call on at least two spinners for the Nagpur Test, with Agar in the mix alongside Mitch Swepson and Todd Murphy to pair with Nathan Lyon in the side.
Green's potential omission could force selectors to call on just two spin options instead of three, with Boland set to come into the side ahead of uncapped fast bowler Lance Morris to help with the pace attack.
"Scotty has bowled plenty at the MCG when it was a flat wicket, it probably wasn't swinging or reverse swinging so he knows how to work hard for a long period of time," Hazlewood said of Boland.
"You've got Lance Morris who has worked hard on reverse swing for the last month and then a nice lead-in here with a few sessions.
"The guys are excited first of all to play in the subcontinent, they both haven't yet, but they're very well qualified to do so."
Australia's XI is set to confirmed closer to the toss for Thursday's match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, which will commence at 3:00pm (AEDT).
