Australia may replace David Warner with Travis Head at the top of the order as they consider changes among the wreckage of an innings first Test defeat in Nagpur.
Queensland left arm finger spinner Matt Kuhnemann is also a chance to play his first Test after being summoned to India as a replacement for reserve leg-spinner Mitch Swepson, who is returning home for the birth of his child.
Kuhnemann, 26, would be a shock selection but he is being considered as a potential third spinner if Cameron Green is fit and the pitch for the second Test in Delhi also aids spinners, as expected.
A shock axing for the first Test, Head has been discussed as a possible opening batsman in the subcontinent, where he has struggled in the middle order on previous tours.
Sources close to the Australian team confirmed those discussions were continuing after Warner’s double failure in the first Test. Australia lost by an innings and 132 runs inside three days after being bowled out for just 91 in their second innings on Saturday, their lowest score on Indian soil.
Most Australian batsmen were completely bamboozled by exceptional Indian spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, who claimed 15 of the 20 wickets between them on a helpful surface.
David Warner walks back to pavilion after his dismissal during the third day.Credit:AP
However it was the way that Warner failed which has raised most concerns, playing late on a ball from Mohammed Shami to lose his off stump for one 13 balls into the Test, then rooted to the crease in the second innings before being trapped lbw for 10 from 41 balls by Ashwin.
Warner had a cluttered, and topsy-turvy, home season with some beacons amid the gloom. He had a top score of just 25 in four T20 World Cup innings as Australia bombed out of the tournament at home, then made 86 and 106 in a three-match one-day series against an England side still celebrating their T20 World Cup win.
Around those white ball moments the dynamic left-hander had gone 20 Test innings with just one half century before scoring an epic double hundred in Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test against South Africa.
That appeared to be a career-saving innings, but it remains the only time he has made it to 50 in 14 Test innings going back to the Sri Lankan tour last June.
Matthew Kuhnemann bowls during the Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Queensland at Melbourne Cricket Ground.Credit:Getty
In six Big Bash innings for the Sydney Thunder after the Test summer Warner made it past 26 once, with a top score of 36 not out.
While Head was left out because his poor record on the subcontinent, averaging 21 in seven Tests, there is a belief amid Australia’s cricket hierarchy that his explosive batting would be best suited against pace and the harder new ball on flatter Indian wickets. This would give the left-hander more chance of establishing his innings rather than coming in against spin.
Given the dominance of spin bowling in the first Test, Australia are considering fielding a third spin bowler and using Green as a pace bowler, if he is fit.
Kuhnemann is considered a chance ahead of current tourist and fellow left arm spinner Ashton Agar because of a tendency to fire the ball into the ball into the pitch more regularly, gaining sharper turn.
Matthew Kuhnemann celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Dunith Wellalage during the fifth one-day international cricket match between Australia and Sri Lanka in June.Credit:AP
Kuhnemann has played just 12 first class matches, claiming 32 wickets at an average of 34, but impressed as an injury fill-in during the June tour of Sri Lanka, claiming six wickets in four one-day matches at an average of 32 and economy rate of five an over.
All-rounder Green could open bowling with captain Pat Cummins and bat in his usual place at number six, probably replacing Matt Renshaw in the line-up.
Green is recovering from a broken finger and is still doubtful for the second Test, as are Josh Hazlewood (Achilles) and Mitchell Starc (middle finger).
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