Captain Pat Cummins will be Australia’s only recognised quick against India in Delhi as the tourists opted to give Queensland spinner Matt Kuhnemann a Test debut.
Australia will bat first in the crucial second match of the Border-Gavaskar series after Cummins won another toss.
After being dropped for the opening Test, aggressive left-hander Travis Head has been recalled to replace Matt Renshaw at No.5 for the match in the Indian capital.
Kuhnemann was playing Sheffield Shield less than a week ago, but will play as a third spinner alongside first Test sensation Todd Murphy and veteran Nathan Lyon after being called into the squad to replace Queensland teammate Mitchell Swepson.
The last time Australia picked three spinners was against Bangladesh in 2017 when Lyon, Ashton Agar and Steve O’Keefe played, as well as allrounder Glenn Maxwell.
Miserly Victorian quick Scott Boland drops out for Kuhnemann after playing an important role in Nagpur last week.
“We feel the pitch here, the conditions, that spin will dominate the game once again and from what we understand this pitch has been used three times already this year and there’s already substantial cracking in the areas where most of the game is going to be played,” Australia selector Tony Dodemaide said.
Australia will need to defy history to level the series, with India unbeaten in red-ball matches at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium since 1987.
India will enter the match with added motivation as prolific No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara readies to play his 100th Test.
The hosts have made just one change, with fit-again Shreyas Iyer replacing Suryakumar Yadav at No.5
The match will begin in heavily smoggy conditions, with Delhi’s air quality index rated as hazardous.
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Matt Kuhnemann
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ravi Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.
© AAP 2023
