With Australia hoping to continue their momentum in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and more importantly looking to improve on their recent record at the Gabba, the venue for the third Test against India, starting December 14, the home side could be boosted by the return of their premier quick Josh Hazlewood, who missed the Pink-ball game in Adelaide due to a side strain.

Hazlewood was forced to watch on from the sidelines as Australia clinched an impressive 10-wicket triumph in Adelaide to level the five-match series 1-1 and boost their chances of reaching next year’s ICC World Test Championship final in June, next year.

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In the absence of Hazlewood, Australia drafted in Scott Boland for the day-night Test and the right-arm seamer came up with an impressive performance, picking up five wickets across the two innings.

On Monday, Hazlewood was put through his paces in Adelaide and the pacer is aiming to make his return for the third Test in Brisbane should he pull up well over the next couple of days.

“I think it’ll be how I pull up in the 24 hours following it really. It’s just that repetitive (action) and obviously two spells makes a big difference. Cooling down pretty much fully and then going again in the same day, and the intensity has got to be right up there as well,” Hazlewood revealed.

“So a few boxes to tick, but it’s probably the 24 hours that follow and pulling up again the next day and then thinking ‘yeah, I’d be right to go again if I had to’,” he added.

Meanwhile, for Boland, who played his first home Test in two years in Adelaide, Hazlewood’s return to Australia’s playing XI in Brisbane, could mean he could be back carrying drinks. The last time he featured for Australia was in Ashes 2023, and was expected to play a part at some point in Australia’s summer but with all three frontline quicks fully fit, he ended up as a spare part.

On his comeback game against India in Adelaide, Boland was right on the money across both innings, and could have had a wicket with his first delivery of the match if he hadn’t overstepped. Instead, he struck with his first ball of the second innings for one of his five wickets, to earn the applause of his teammates and crowd alike.

“He’s been high quality his whole Test career. We said that at the start of the week it’s nice to have someone like him ready to go. He can come back in, and you know the impact he’s going to have. He’s taken some huge wickets for us. The hill was going mad for him. [He’s] a hugely important guy for us in the squad: he’s a great person, boys absolutely love him, the public love him. Whenever he does get a chance, you can’t be happier for him,” Travis Head said.

Hazlewood also showered praises on his compatriot, saying, “[It’s] just admiration, he just sticks to his guns. He does his job, he doesn’t try and be anyone else. Whether he’s playing for Victoria or Australia, it’s the same thing, it’s the same areas. We’ve seen him take multiple wickets in an over, so once he gets on a roll, it’s just bang, bang, bang. In these conditions, [with the] pink ball under lights, there’s not many better.”

Both fast bowlers will make the trip to Brisbane ahead of the Gabba Test, with Australia desperately hoping to turn around their recent record at the iconic venue where they lost two of their last four matches.

One of those losses came in the form of a three-wicket defeat to India during the previous tour in 2020-21, but Hazlewood is confident his side can continue their winning ways if they can adjust quickly to returning to using a red-ball. Hazlewood has an impressive record at the venue, taking 37 wickets, including two fifers, at an average of 23.75 from his 8 appearances so far, and will be desperate to return to action in his happy hunting ground.

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

“So we’re back to the red-ball there, which I think 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,” he added.

While Australia seems to have no dearth of fast-bowling back-ups, India, still licking their wounds from the Adelaide defeat, will be looking to add that element of spice to support Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.