In what has come as a body blow to Australia's hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, star allrounder Cameron Green has been ruled out of the five-match Test series with back surgery to be done in the next few days. The surgery necessitates that he will be out of action for the next six months which puts his participation in IPL 2025 in jeopardy as well.

The recovery will mean that Green will be out of February's Test tour of Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

During Australia's white-ball tour of the United Kingdom in September, Green hurt his back and subsequent scans found a stress fracture in the affected area. He has opted to go for surgery which will rule him out of the entire summer.

Cricket Australia has said that Green has a unique defect in an adjacent area to the stress fracture which is contributing to the injury and he will undergo surgery to stabilise it and ensure that it doesn't occur again in the future.

Following week-long assessments, Green was left to decide if he would choose the surgery option, which could recover his career, much like it did for ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah. If he had chosen rehabilitation, he would have played the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as a pure batter.

Green's absence from the No.4 spot can permit ace Australia batter Steve Smith to move back to that position given selectors were already considering whether to keep him in the opening spot he took up last summer.

Cricket Australia will on Monday declare their A squad which will take on India A and from there, a replacement for Green might be named in the next few weeks when the squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy comes out.

Mitchell Marsh, the incumbent No.6, didn't bowl in Western Australia's Sheffield Shield game against Queensland and didn't bowl himself enough while leading Australia's white-ball sides over the winter.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.