Skipper Pat Cummins on Friday (December 13) confirmed that veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood has fully recovered from the injury and will take part in Australia’s playing XI for the crucial third Test against India, starting Saturday (December 14) at the Gabba.

Hazlewood was forced to miss the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to a low-grade left side injury. In his absence, Scott Boland got a chance in the pink-ball Test and returned with five wickets to script Australia’s 10-wicket victory at the Adelaide Oval.

Cummins confirmed Boland would make way for Hazlewood at the Gabba. "Josh comes back in... had no hiccups. Had a really good bowl yesterday, had another good bowl in Adelaide a few days previous. Him and the medical team are super confident," Cummins told reporters in Brisbane.

Hazlewood coming in for Boland is the only change to the home side's XI that outclassed India in Adelaide to level the five-match series at 1-1.

Cummins admitted that it was a difficult decision to leave Boland out of the line-up, though he expects the latter to play a part at some stage later in the series.

"It's tough, he (Boland) was fantastic in Adelaide. He's unfortunately spent a fair bit of time on the bench over the past 18 months. And whenever he's played, he's been fantastic. A shame for Scotty, but still a fair bit to play out this series. I would be surprised if he doesn't get another crack at some point."

The Gabba Test is vital for both teams, with Australia and India still vying for a place in the next year's ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord's.

Australia XI for third Test: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood