Injury blow: Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin ruled out of the Perth Test

The Indian cricket team have announced a 13-member squad for the second Test against Australia which is scheduled to begin on December 14 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma have been ruled out of the Test, with the former suffering from an abdominal strain on his left side and the latter suffering from a minor back injury which he incurred while fielding the first Test.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja have been named in the 13-man squad but we will have to wait and see if they are given a chance to play. In most likelihood, Hanuma VIhari will be a part of the playing XI in place of Rohit Sharma, who scored just 38 runs in the first Test, with 37 coming in the first innings and just 1 in the second.

Ashwin, on the other hand, proved to be extremely useful in India's victory at Adelaide, with six wickets to his name in the entire match and a useful knock of 25 in the first innings as well.

Given the nature of the pitch, which was revealed just a few hours ago and the fact that Perth is known to provide a lot of bounce to the pacers, we could see India go with an all-out pace attack. The pacers were on fire in the first Test as well, picking up 14 out of the 20 wickets.

The Test will begin at 07:50 IST tomorrow and this will be the biggest international game so far hosted by the new stadium at Perth.

India's squad for the second Test against Australia: 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.