PERTH: India skipper Virat Kohli was undaunted on Thursday despite losing prolific off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and batsman Rohit Sharma to injury as he looks to twist the knife in the second Test against Australia.

The visitors went 1-0 in the four-Test series after a tense, 31-run win in Adelaide earlier this week — their first victory in Australia in a decade.

But India, who are searching for their first series win in Australia, suffered a setback when Ashwin and the experienced Sharma were declared unavailable for the second Test in Perth, starting on Friday.

Ashwin is receiving treatment for a left-sided abdominal strain, while Sharma jarred his back while fielding in Adelaide, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said.

Also missing, as expected, will be exciting young opener Prithvi Shaw, who suffering ligament damage in a warm-up ahead of the Adelaide Test. The BCCI said Shaw, 19, was “recovering well” but was still undergoing treatment.

However, Kohli was bullish about India’s prospects in the inaugural Test at the new Perth Stadium, which has replaced the city’s venerable WACA Ground as its premier cricket venue.

“We are definitely confident of the percentage of chances we have and we want to build on that,” said Kohli at a pre-match press conference before the injury problems were announced.

“Obviously Australia is going to be a strong team in their home conditions and on a wicket like Perth, which probably offers you more than most other pitches in Australia. But we have an equal chance.” Ashwin took six wickets in the first Test, while Sharma hit scores of 37 and one. They were the notable absences in India’s initial 13-man squad.

All-rounder Hanuma Vihari is expected to slot in for Sharma, with the final spot a toss-up between pacemen Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja.

The Test will be the first at the new 60,000-capacity Perth Stadium, whose wicket is likely to be fast and bouncy like the old WACA, just over the Swan River.

Kohli said he was impressed by the new arena and not concerned by a wicket that is set to favour fast bowlers, with Australia having a world-class line-up of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

He pointed to his own attack of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, saying they were “at the peak of their abilities”.

Meanwhile, Australia skipper Tim Paine came to the defence of under-fire Mitchell Starc and Aaron Finch as they were included in an unchanged team for the Perth Test despite below-par performances in the defeat in Adelaide.

Once again Starc, Hazelwood and Cummins will shoulder the bowling load on an expected pacey wicket, with Nathan Lyon the spin option.

There had been speculation that Peter Siddle could replace Starc who had some wayward spells at Adelaide, including a string of costly byes in India’s second innings.

Paine said the criticism of Starc was over the top.

“The criticism he has come under this week has been pretty unfair to be honest. I think barring two or three overs in Adelaide where he got his radar a little bit wrong, I thought he bowled really well,” the skipper said.

“I think his best and his worst are getting closer together. I think we’re getting really close to his best and the conditions here are going to suit him down to the ground.”

He added that Starc took the comments personally, and it had fired him up.

“One thing I know about Starcy is that if he cops a bit of criticism he takes it personally and that sometimes gets the best out of him. So I’m pretty pumped to see him go tomorrow or the next day and see what he can produce.”

The selectors also retained Finch to face the new ball alongside rookie Marcus Harris despite his first Test failures and talk that he could move down the order with Usman Khawaja bumped up to opener.

Finch, Australia’s ODI and T20 captain, spent time with former skipper Ricky Ponting at training on Thursday, and Paine backed him to find form.

“We encourage all our players to back their strengths and Finchy has been successful at international cricket,” he said.

Teams:

AUSTRALIA: Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Tim Paine (captain), Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc

INDIA (from): Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand)

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018