The veteran Indian cricketers, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin have been ruled out of the second Test of the ongoing four-match series against Australia in Perth, it was confirmed on Thursday (December 13). Rohit sustained an injury to his back while attempting to field the ball on the fifth day of the Adelaide Test. On the other hand, Ashwin has been struggling with an abdominal strain on his left side.
Ashwin bowled as many as 86.5 overs in Adelaide – the most he has bowled in a single Test. This included a marathon 52.5 over-effort in the second innings. He bagged six wickets and conceded at less than two runs an over. He has been troubled with abdominal and groin injury concerns in the recent past. Early this year, he played through the Southampton Test against England with a groin injury that hampered his efficacy. He had also missed out of IPL 2017 owing to a groin injury picked up at the latter stages of India’s 13-Test home season of 2016-17.
ALSO READ: Gavaskar Feels R Ashwin Has Learned From Nathan Lyon
However, Prithvi Shaw, who missed the first Test because of an ankle injury, continues to recover and will miss the second Test as well. Describing the same, in the press release, BCCI said, “Shaw is recovering well from his left ankle injury but still undergoing treatment.”
India name 13-man squad for 2nd Test: Virat Kohli (C), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/dBnMLqZ7AD
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 13, 2018
With a green pitch laid out for the game, India could well look to go in with four fast bowlers in the side with Hanuma Vihari coming in as a replacement for Rohit. The toss up is likely to be between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav.
The Indian team management shortlisted a 13-man squad for the Perth Test, here is the squad:
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.
