Hazlewood likely out for series after suffering calf strain

Australia's decision to recall Josh Hazlewood for the third NRMA Insurance Test has backfired with the star paceman all but certain to miss the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Pat Cummins is a bowler short in India's first innings after Hazlewood, having suffered a side strain in the series opener last month, left the field following the first drinks break on day four of the third Test.

The 33-year-old hurt his right calf during Australia's warm-ups on Tuesday morning. He bowled one over in the first session before leaving the field.

Medical scans later in the day confirmed he had strained his right calf and is likely to miss the rest of the series.

"A squad replacement will be made in due course," said a CA spokesperson.

Scott Boland, who took five wickets in the Adelaide Test when Hazlewood missed because of his side injury, is now firmly back in contention to play the Boxing Day Test.

Hazlewood, having had discussions with medical staff and coach Andrew McDonald before play, had appeared ginger when thrown the ball. His first ball was uncharacteristically short, wide and only 128kph.

He bowled out the over but was then involved in more discussions with captain Cummins, his deputy Steve Smith and physiotherapist Nick Jones during the drinks break that immediately followed the quick's first over.

Australia insisted he was fit enough to play in Brisbane and there were no signs of any issues when he sent down five overs on a rain-marred third day, taking the prized wicket of Virat Kohli.

But he only managed one more over on day four before being forced from the field.

Hazlewood hurt the same calf in August ahead of Australia's limited-overs tour of the United Kingdom. He missed the T20 series against Scotland but featured in ensuing matches against England.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal