Josh Hazlewood likely to miss the first two Tests against India: Reports

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood might miss the first half of the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he is still recovering from an Achilles injury. He sustained the injury while playing against South Africa in Sydney last month.

With rain interventions affecting the hardness of the ground, the soft landing point for Hazlewood might have played a role in causing the injury. He wasn't seen bowling in Australia's pre-series camp in Alur, according to reports from Cricbuzz.

Speaking to reporters after Australia's final session at the KSCA Stadium, here's what Josh Hazlewood had to say about his injury:

"Just a bit of workload management at the moment. Just managing the Achilles. I bowled a fair bit leading into the tour at home and sort of just pushing up against 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 on (in Nagpur) and hope it goes well."

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Josh Hazlewood on Scott Boland's potential in subcontinent conditions

With both Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood almost ruled out of the first Test, this could be a huge opportunity for Scott Boland to play his first overseas Test. Boland has made an incredible impression in the limited Tests that he has played so far and could partner captain Pat Cummins in the Australian pace attack.

Here's what Hazlewood had to say about Boland's qualities:

"Scotty (Boland) 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. 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."

It will be interesting to see if Australia play with three pacers or do they go with 'horses for courses' and play three spinners in the first Test in Nagpur.