Australia vs India: Visitors announce 13-member squad for Perth Test

The second Test of the four-game series between Australia and India will kick off at the new Perth Stadium on Friday and the visitors have named a 13-member squad for the match led by captain Virat Kohli. The squad includes left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and speedsters Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The two names that were found missing from the squad for the first Test in Adelaide are batsman Rohit Sharma and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

India are leading the series 1-0 at the moment after winning the game at Adelaide Oval by 31 runs after making a magnificent comeback after early setbacks. Man of the match Cheteshwar Pujara slammed a hundred (123) and a fifty (71) in the two innings to lead the Indian fightback after they were reduced to 41 for 4 on the first day morning. Captain Kohli did not have a great match either. India’s bowlers received a special accolade for bowling out Australia twice with some good stuff to give India their first-ever win in a first Test played on the Australian soil.

More injury scares for India

India, however, have their share of anxiety over injuries. While famed opener Prithvi Shaw was ruled out with an ankle injury for the first Test after he hurt himself during a practice game with Cricket Australia XI, Rohit and Ashwin have been ruled out of the second Test with injuries as well.

While the batsman injured his lower back while fielding in Adelaide, Ashwin has an abdominal strain and deemed unfit for the match. Even though the off-spinner had a good game in Adelaide where he picked six wickets, the team management doesn’t want to play him in Perth and rerun the scenario which was seen in England and caused the team a lot of embarrassment.

Rohit, on the other hand, had an ordinary game with scores of 37 and 1 in two outings. The three players are likely to make a comeback in the third Test starting in Melbourne on December 26.

India’s 13-member squad for Perth Test: Virat Kohli (c), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav