‘Mystery’: Indian legend’s conspiracy theory over Aussie’s ‘strange’ injury

An Indian legend has suggested an injury to one of Australia’s most important players is shrouded in “mystery” ahead of the second Test.

Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has labelled Australia’s media “scaremongers” and suggested there is a “mystery” surrounding Josh Hazlewood’s injury heading into the second Test in Adelaide.

The day-night Test begins on Friday and it is simply a must win game for Australia, who have never lost a pink ball Test at the Adelaide Oval.

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Hazlewood was one of Australia’s best bowlers when India last played in Adelaide, taking 5/8 as Australia bowled India out for 36.

News of Hazlewood side strain injury came days after the Aussie quick’s comments ahead of the last day of action in the series opener in Perth raised eyebrows.

Australia had to bowl on each of the first three days in Perth, and speaking after the third day about what Australia’s plans would be to try and salvage the series opener while trailing by 522 runs, Hazlewood gave an eye-opening response.

“You’ll have to ask the batters that question, I’m sort of relaxing and getting a bit of physio treatment and probably looking mostly to the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters,” he said.

“That to me tells me there is potentially a divided changeroom,” Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.

“I don’t know if that’s the case, I might be reading too much into that.”

Michael Vaughan added: “I must admit I’m staggered by that. Publicly I’ve never heard an Australian come out and divide the camp into batters and bowlers.”

Australia's Josh Hazlewood will miss the second Test in Adelaide. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Gavaskar, who scored 34 Test centuries, believes the cracks are starting to appear in the Australian camp and hinted there might be more to Hazlewood’s “strange” injury than meets the eye.

Gavaskar wrote in his Indian Sportstar column: “The panic in the Australian ranks is palpable, what with former players calling for heads to be chopped off and some even hinting at cracks in the Australian team after Josh Hazlewood’s media interview at the end of the third day’s play, where he suggested that it was up to the batters to now do something

“Now, a few days later, Hazlewood is out of the second Test and possibly the series too with a supposed side strain.

“Strange, that, since nobody had noticed anything wrong with Hazlewood at that media conference.

“Mystery, mystery — the like of which used to be common in Indian cricket in the past. Now it’s the Aussies, and like old McDonald, I’m simply loving it.”

After handing the Aussies their first loss at Perth Stadium, Gavaskar said pre-match predictions that India would be outplayed on a fast, bouncy pitch were “the boasts of a bully”.

The 79-year-old wrote: “All the boasts about how the (Perth) pitch is going to be pacy and bouncy and scare the living daylights out of the Indian batters were exactly that - the boasts of a bully.

“Mind you, it wasn’t the Aussie players but their support staff in the media, both electronic and print, who were trying to be scaremongers.”

Gavaskar’s comments echo those of ex-Indian coach and Fox Cricket expert Ravi Shastri, who said the Indians would have belief they could claim a third consecutive Test series win on Australian soil.

Shastri said during the first Test: “Having come to Australia for 30-40 years, I think this is the first time an Indian team is feeling that ‘You know what, we are better than the opposition in their backyard’.”

Sunil Gavaskar believes Hazlewood’s injury is mysterious. (Photo by Izhar Khan/Getty Images)

Hazlewood is out with a side strain. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Travis Head, Australia’s topscorer in Perth, said on Wednesday there is no tension between Australia’s struggling bats and the bowling attack as he prepares for another fierce examination from Jasprit Bumrah in Adelaide.

Head said he “wouldn’t dive into” any commentary about a lack of appropriate preparation for the Border-Gavaskar series and was adamant there was no rift in the Australian dressing room after post-play comments from Josh Hazlewood during the Perth Test were perceived in some quarters as a dig at the underperforming top order.

“Batters want to hold our own … we know how good our bowlers have been in the past,” Head said.

“Knowing that if I can set it up for the big boys, they can knock it down for us, so definitely no bad blood.

“I feel like this team has dealt with adversity well, with the small amount that we’ve had in the last three or four years.

Travis Head says there’s no divide between the batters and bowlers. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

“We’ve had some challenging times, we had a couple of challenging Tests last year that we were able to get ourselves out of.

“Our heads aren’t in the clouds, we understand a few Tests last year we understand could’ve gone either way.”

India will go in as favourites to take a 2-0 series lead given Hazlewood has been ruled out, Mitch Marsh is under an injury cloud and Marnus Labuschagne is struggling for runs.

The tourists are set to recall Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and to a team already featuring Jasprit Bumrah and Yashavi Jaiswal, who starred in the first Test in Perth. Spinners Ravi Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja are also available for selection.

Head backed veteran quick Scott Boland to have an impact with the pink ball if he returned in Hazlewood’s absence, saying the Victorian had a great record against his South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

— With NCA Newswire

Originally published as ‘Mystery’: Indian legend’s conspiracy theory over Aussie’s ‘strange’ injury