Australia has suffered a major setback ahead of the four-Test series against India. Veteran fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the first Test from February 9. He will not play in Nagpur due to injury. Not only this, Hazlewood's playing in the second Test in Delhi is doubtful as well. Scott Boland can be included in the playing-11 in his place. He can play Test outside Australia for the first time.

Hazlewood is not the first Australian player to be injured ahead of the series. Before him, Mitchell Starc is troubled by a finger injury. At the same time, Cameron Green will also not bowl in the first match due to a finger injury. If he gets a chance to play, he will only bat. Hazlewood was hurt during the Sydney Test last month. Hazlewood did not fully participate in Australia's pre-series camp at Alur. 

Josh Hazlewood played all the four Test matches of the 2017 Test series and took wickets in all the matches. His best performance came in the second innings of the Second Test. He surprised the Indians by taking six wickets in that innings on a spin-assisted pitch. He sent four top-order batsmen to the pavilion, including Pujara and Kohli.

match date Place Time

first test February 9-13 Nagpur 9:30 a.m.

second test February 17-21 Delhi 9:30 a.m.

third test March 1-5 Hospice 9:30 a.m.

fourth test March 9-13 Ahmedabad 9:30 a.m.

Team India for the first two matches of the Test series:  Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, KL Rahul, S Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.

Australia squad:  Usman Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith, David Warner, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Ashton Agar, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Peter Handscomb, Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson.