Australia Sustain Another Setback, Southpaw Ruled Out Of The Pink-Ball Test After Failing To Recover From Back Spasms

Australia's injury issues refuse to die down. The hosts and the defending champions of Ashes 2025 won the opening Test and are 1-0 up in the series. The second Test match of the series is scheduled to be played at The Gabba in Brisbane and Australia will be without the services of their star bowling quicks, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

In Cummins' absence, Steve Smith will be leading the Australian side in the day-night Test match that starts on December 4, 2025. As far as England's dismal record goes, they haven't been able to win a Test match on Australian soil since Ashes 2010-11 and this time around they might put an end to the string of their defeats in The Gabba Test.

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Usman Khawaja Ruled Out Of The 2nd Ashes Test

After Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Australia have been hit with another injury, to their regular opener Usman Khawaja. The southpaw recently came under scanner for criticizing the Perth pitch, despite ICC rating it as 'very good'. It now seems the Australian opener's future is in doubt as he has been ruled out of the much-important day-night Test match.

'Khawaja will remain with the team to continue his rehabilitation. He has not been replaced in the squad,' read a statement. Khawaja being ruled out of the second Test match means that the Australian team management might consider Travis Head opening the batting for them. In the second innings of the first Test, Travis Head played a quickfire knock of 123 runs off 83 balls and helped Australia defeat England within two days.

The Australian team management might also think about including Josh Inglis and Beau Webster in the XI. Inglis is in some real good touch as he recently scored a ton against the England Lions.

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Sunil Gavaskar Defends Khawaja

Former India player and skipper, Sunil Gavaskar, recently spoke about Usman Khawaja's comments on the Perth pitch. The India legend said that Khawaja's judgements are based on his experiences with the surface as he played the game. Gavaskar also highlighted how people never took into consideration the fact that a total of 19 wickets had fallen on the first day.