Indian great Sunil Gavaskar has never been shy to stir the pot and a claim in his column for Sportstar has set the scene for a tense build up to the second Test in Adelaide.

With Mitch Marsh firming to play despite injury concerns, Australia look set to make one change to the XI from Perth, with reliable quick Scott Boland coming in for the injured Josh Hazlewood, who was omitted from the squad with a side strain.

However, Gavaskar has mischievously cast doubt over Hazlewood’s absence, hinting that the champion bowler has paid a price for throwing the batters in his team under the bus in a press conference after day three of the first Test.

READ MORE: Gilchrist backs ‘class act’ to regain form

READ MORE: Head denies ‘bad blood’ as Aussies eye redemption

READ MORE: The ‘cold call’ that lured Bellamy back to NSW

In his column, Gavaskar wrote that Hazlewood showed no signs of discomfort in Perth.

“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,” Gavaskar wrote.

“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.”

Hazlewood was one of Australia’s best in Perth, claiming match figures of 5-57 despite being part of a well beaten side.

A claim that he would be secretly axed after having his way with several of India’s best batters, including the dismissal of Virat Kohli for 5 in the first innings, is bizarre verging on ridiculous but its symptomatic of the role reversal that has happened slowly over the past decade.

While the likes of Glenn McGrath used to torment the Indian players with both words and deeds, Indian players past and present feel so confident that they’ve got the wood over Australia that no amount of provocation is considered foolish.

In this case Gavaskar has seized on a sense that the Australian side is fractured, which comes after Hazlewood’s presser, which was latched onto by Michael Vaughan among others as a sign that the dressing room was splintered and perhaps even defeated.

Hazlewood was speaking to media with Australia poised for defeat at stumps on day three, batting with the score at 3-12 after the top order failed to resist a short spell late on day three.

Having toiled away in the field as India piled on a second innings score of 6-487 declared on a pitch that had flattened out, Hazlewood was perhaps understandably careless with his words.

When asked about the state of the game and the fragility of Australia’s batting, Hazlewood chose not to defend his teammates.

“You probably have to ask one of the batters that question,” he said.

“I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards next Test and what plans we can do.

“I guess the batters are just sticking to what they do, their preparation, they’ll have a hit in the morning and talk around plans of how what happened the first innings, how they can negate that and move forward and improve on that.”

The comments left former England captain Vaughan “staggered”.

“Josh Hazlewood is a great bowler, terrific team member. Publicly, I’ve never heard an Australian come out and kind of divide the camp into batters and bowlers,” he said on Fox Cricket.

“Every single player has to bat. There’s two days to go in the Test match. It’s a long shot, a huge shot for Australia to get anything out of this game.

“But to publicly see a player basically saying, ‘I’m thinking about the next game’ before this game is finished … I’ve never, ever seen that from an Australian player, any player really, around the globe, but particularly Australians.”

Hazlewood’s comments, then Vaughan’s, opened the door to conversation about the unity or otherwise of Australia’s dressing room. Gavaskar took that theme a step further by suggesting the selectors may have intervened.

The truth is almost certainly far simpler. Hazlewood may have ruffled some feathers in the dressing room but he’s a popular member of one of the greatest bowling quartets of all-time, so leaving him out of the side if he was fit and available would only serve to pour fuel on a fire that is easily doused with a better team performance in Adelaide.

Hazlewood has a history of side strains. He missed Tests in the 2022/23 summer because of them and also had a lengthy break 12 months before that to deal with a similar injury. At 33, Hazlewood’s load needs to be managed, so if he’s got even the slightest niggle in an area that has been a problem for him, it’s a no brainer to give him a rest and bring him back in for the Gabba Test, which starts just four days after the second Test is due to finish.

There are still four Tests to play, it’s a little early for conspiracies.