NEW DELHI, Dec 11: Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has been rushed to Australia ahead of the second Test starting in Adelaide on Friday.

The 27-year-old played the last of his four Tests against Zimbabwe in New Delhi more than three years ago.

“We received an SOS from the team management that they require another spinner,” Syed Kirmani, India’s chief selector, said on Thursday.

“We decided Kartik was the best choice. I suppose he will play in Adelaide.”

Kartik’s call-up follows a lacklustre performance by off spinner Harbhajan Singh in the drawn first Test at Brisbane, where he managed just one wicket at a cost of 169 runs.

Harbhajan said this week that he had not fully recovered from a finger injury sustained earlier in the year.

Kartik impressed in a one-day triangular series against Australia and New Zealand last month and just missed out selection for the Australian tour behind Harbhajan and leg-spinner Anil Kumble.—Reuters