Australia v India Test series: David Warner and Josh Hazlewood to be sent home

Cricket Australia has confirmed David Warner is being sent home from India. But with no plans to bring him back, has the opener played his last Test for Australia?

Cricket Australia has confirmed Monday’s exclusive News Corp reports that David Warner is leaving the Border Gavaskar Trophy tour to recover from a fracture to his elbow.

There are not plans to bring him back before the end of the series.

The opening batsman was subbed out of the second Test after being struck in the arm and the head, but the blow to the limb has proven the most debilitating.

There is a strong chance with Cameron Green coming back in, and Travis Head already made something of a start as a Warner substitute, that no one will be called up.

Matthew Renshaw would go out of the side and be the spare batsman in the squad.

Josh Hazlewood has been also sent home to recover from an Achilles injury which kept him from the first two Tests.

Steve Smith has also flown out of India to meet his wife, while others left Delhi to visit the Taj Mahal on Tuesday.

Warner’s wife and three children had joined him in Delhi ahead of the family period for players and will accompany him home on Wednesday.

The opener has been a constant at the top of the order as 13 batsmen have come and gone at the other end.

His contribution in that position is only shaded - and slightly so - by Matthew Hayden. Both have played 103 Tests, both have scored in excess of 8000 runs.

Cricket Australia have confirmed David Warner is being sent home, with no plans to bring him back for the remainder of the Indian tour. Picture: Getty Images.

In an exclusive interview with News Corp, Hayden said he did not think this was the end for the batsman in Test match cricket and warned of the difficulty Australian cricket would have replacing him if it is.

“He’s not finished yet, he’ll find that happy place,” he said.

“I’ll tell you this as well we are not going to find a better replacement for him as yet. It’s all fine to drop a legend, or a legend to retire because they’re feeling immense pressure which is often their own pressure but who is the person to replace him.

“He’s had how many partners now, it is an extraordinary number. I was lucky enough to have my best mate at the other end for the majority of my career in Test cricket.”

When Hayden followed Justin Langer into retirement the Test team found itself in a state of flux before at least landing on Warner three years later.

Warner was successfully replaced by Travis Head in Delhi but the South Australian is not considered a long term opener.

Cameron Bancroft is likely to find his career revived.

Coaching staff have been discussing Warner’s situation since losing the second Test.

“We’re in no rush to make any decisions at this point in time around Davey,” Andrew McDonald said Monday. “Just seeing how that settles, how functional that is. it will be how sore and how functional it is.

“There’s some talk the length of injury could be anywhere between a week plus depending how that settles down. There’s a bit of unknown there, I’ll leave that to the medical team and they’ll inform me once they know.”

McDonald said that Head, who top scored with 43 when called to open the second innings in Warner’s absence, would be the obvious replacement at the top of the order.

“If Dave’s unavailable it would make perfect sense,” he said.

“We did discuss before coming over here that if we were to lose an opening batter that Trav would be one we’d look to put up there. We feel in the subcontinental conditions that he can get off to the fast starts which he showed.”

Josh Hazlewood (left) has also been sent home as he deals with an Achilles injury. Picture: Getty Images.

Josh Hazlewood has been sent home to recover from an Achilles injury which kept him from the first two Tests.

Mitchell Starc and Green were also absent from the opening two matches.

“Warner was struck on the elbow in the second Test in Delhi and sustained a hairline fracture,” CA said in a statement.

“After further assessment, he will require a period of rehabilitation which will preclude any further involvement in the remainder of the Test series.

“It is currently anticipated that he will return to India for the three One-Day Internationals which follow the Test Series.”

OPENER SET FOR SHOCK REPRIEVE AS WARNER’S SERIES ENDS MISERABLY

Things are bad and could get worse for the Australian Test team in India with David Warner and others unlikely to play again in the series.

Josh Hazlewood is being sent home and won’t take part in the series due to a nagging achilles injury that he hasn’t recovered from since the Sydney Test.

Warner could be sent home to maximise his recovery from a fractured elbow.

Players are heading to all ports on a four-day break after a day when they lost 8-28 and all hope of winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy was lost.

While Warner is said to have a less severe hairline fracture of the elbow, the team has a track record of playing down injuries.

There is next to no chance Warner would be right for the Indore match and no confidence he would be fit for the fourth Test, even with a hairline fracture.

The opener was replaced by Travis Head at the top of the order when subbed out with a concussion that occurred soon after he was struck on the arm, but the situation leaves them without a spare batter in the squad.

Matthew Renshaw came in as the concussion sub for Warner.

Cameron Bancroft, who is the leading the Sheffield Shield batsman this season and has Test match experience, is the likely replacement.

Warner’s family is in India during the gap between Tests.

Australia's David Warner (C) gets medical aid during the first day of the second Test

Coach Andrew McDonald said there is “no rush” to make a decision, but did not dismiss suggestions Warner could be sent home.

“He’s still sore at the moment,” McDonald said. “We had a meeting just before discussing through this. We’re in no rush to make any decisions at this point in time around Davey. Just seeing how that settles, how functional that is. it will be how sore and how functional it is.

“There’s some talk the length of injury could be anywhere between a week plus depending how that settles down. There’s a bit of unknown there, I’ll leave that to the medical team and they’ll inform me once they know.”

McDonald said that Head, who top scored with 43 when called to open the second innings in Warner’s absence, would be the obvious replacement at the top of the order.

“If Dave’s unavailable it would make perfect sense,” he said.

“We did discuss before coming over here that if we were to lose an opening batter that Trav would be one we’d look to put up there. We feel in the subcontinental conditions that he can get off to the fast starts which he showed.”

McDonald defended the move to give some players a break with Steve Smith understood to have left India to be with his wife.

“There were people who were meant to be training today, unfortunately we couldn’t get the facilities,” he said.

“Everyone’s on different programs, so there’d be some players who get breaks away from the game for a couple of days, there’d be others who are still in the gym and preparing.

“It’s not a blanket break for everyone. We essentially want them to get away from the game, we feel like they need to.

“Patty has some family issues back home so he’s flown which is unfortunate. it comes down to the individual, they’ve been playing for a long time, to keep continuing to reinvest in cricket, sometime there’s a balance element to everything you need to do in life. It’s like you Pete.

“We feel as though some players need a break to mentally freshen up and if we flatten them too early in the series, I think a flat player on tour, we’ve seen how they perform over the years. It’s about finding that balance. People are well within their rights to critique what we do, that’s their opinion and we respect their opinion.

“We’ll be in contact with Patty as well, we’ve got some decisions to make around squads and injuries. He’ll still be in engaged with what’s happening back home but we’ve got some strong leaders in the squad who will be able to pick up the slack on the ground.”

McDonald did not rule out other players leaving the squad.

Josh Hazlewood. Picture: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP

“We’re working through that so it won’t be form as such but there’s cricket going on back home. And with a few players now becoming fit and available, are we carrying too many? That’s probably a question. So we got to be clear on what we want to achieve in the next two Test matches in terms of the structure of the team. Once we get our heads around that. There’s an opportunity for players to be playing cricket back home and we value that. It won’t be form related, it’d be more we want our players playing where they can be and not just being carried around in kit bags, in particular when there’s cricket going on back home.

Mitchell Starc, who was a surprise omission from the second Test after flying in for that match, stayed in Sydney when the team left to receive treatment from internationally renowned NSW physiotherapist Pat Farhart.

Captain Pat Cummins has returned to Australia briefly for personal reasons.

There was speculation Ashton Agar, who was not chosen for the first two Tests and was then leap frogged by Matthew Kuhnemann who made his debut in Delhi will leave, but McDonald denied Agar would leave.

Mitchell Swepson who missed the second match to be at the birth of his child, will return before the next Test.

Adam Gilchrist questioned Agar’s treatment on SEN radio.

“There have been murmurings that he might be on a flight home because he might feel like he is surplus to requirements over there and I can understand why (he would feel like that) without being in the camp and knowing the finer detail as to why he wasn’t picked,” Gilchrist said on SEN.

“It is a pretty big insult, that. From touring … you just felt that if you were picked on the tour as a first member in a broader squad … you generally expect the guys that were the first reserves to step in.

“That is a bit of a body blow for him, I would imagine. I haven’t spoken to him. I haven’t read any commentary around or comments from him. It would be interesting to see what he does and whether he is brought into contention.”

The optics of players leaving the tour aren’t great, but the successful 2004-05 team headed for all ports midway through that series with acting captain Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Michael Clarke and Damien Martyn among those who left the country between the test matches.

Cameron Bancroft could be welcomed back into the Australia fold

Steve Smith was seen by guests leaving the hotel early in the morning with a large bag packed. A spokesman said he did not know where the batsman was headed.

Some members of the side have a bus trip planned to visit Agra where they plan to visit the Taj.

Cummins is expected to return before the end of the week.

“Cummins has flown home for personal reasons due to a serious family illness,” a spokesman said. “He will return to India later this week to re-join preparations for the third Test in Indore.

“We ask media to respect his privacy.”

Some of the Australian players are in the middle of one of the most hectic periods ever in the international calendar.

After the five Test summer they were encouraged to participate in the Big Bash.

There are ODIs after the four Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, then the IPL, the Test Match Championship (if they qualify) and five Ashes Tests in England between now and the return to Australia in August for some of the squad.