India lose key pair on eve of second Test

India have suffered major injury blows with ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and hard-hitting batter Rohit Sharma ruled out of the second Domain Test in Perth.

India confirmed on Thursday Ashwin has suffered a left-side abdominal strain, while Rohit jarred his back in the field during the first Test.

Replacing the injured pair are spin-bowling allrounder Hanuma Vihari and pacemen Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with Ravindra Jadeja the sole spinner in the squad.

Virat Kohli and his charges were greeted at Perth Stadium by a bright green pitch, which is expected to provide pace and bounce throughout the five days of the venue's maiden Test match.

The fast-bowling friendly pitch means India could play four specialist quicks, with Vihari to bat at No.6 and provide Kohli a spinning option through his right-arm off-spin.

Vihari has played just one Test – against India at The Oval in September – but boasts a first-class triple-century and an average nudging 60.

Umesh is the fastest bowler in the India touring group but Bhuvneshwar's superior batting ability and skill as a swing bowler could see him play in Perth.

India played four fast bowlers at the WACA Ground in 2012 - Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Umesh - in a match they lost by an innings and 37 runs. 

However, in January India played a quartet of quicks in Johannesburg - Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant and Bhuvneshwar - on a spicy wicket and prevailed by 63 runs.

Looking at the Perth pitch, Kohli hopes its condition does not change before play starts at 10:20am local time on Friday.

"I was pretty happy to see the pitch the way it is," Kohli said. "I hope that no more grass is taken off the pitch because that will mean the first three days will be very lively and we as a team are happy with that.

"We just have to challenge ourselves as a batting unit, show discipline and show positive intent. And then ask the bowlers to do the job they did at Adelaide as well.

"I think this pitch is going to offer significantly more to the bowlers than Adelaide did and that's something we're very excited about to be honest."

Even if the Perth Stadium pitch is suited to fast bowling, the loss of Ashwin is huge for India.

The 32-year-old, who has captured 342 wickets in 65 Tests, had struggled in Australia before the first Test, where he claimed 6-149 and consistently troubled the hosts' left-handers.

The India camp also confirmed young gun opener Prithvi Shaw is recovering well from the gruesome ankle injury he suffered in India's sole tour game in Sydney last month.  

India squad: 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

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar