All eyes were on the Indian pace battery as Virat Kohli and his troops hit the nets for one final time ahead of the second Test of the four-match series against Australia in Perth, starting Friday.

Brett Sipthorpe , who is the head curator at the Perth Stadium — which is hosting it’s first-ever Test — revealed that they are trying to prepare one of the bounciest tracks for the second clash of the series. And this was music to the ears for the visitors as India are currently home of one of the best pace attacks in the world.

The trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were in good form in Adelaide where they scalped 14 of the 20 wickets. And now, looking at the pace-friendly conditions of Perth, the team management has added Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav into the 13-member squad announced on Thursday.

All five Indian pacers were pictured sweating it out during training and the images were uploaded on social media by the official account of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The post read: “An exciting contest awaits at Perth with a lot on offer for the quicks. #TeamIndia #AUSvIND”.

An exciting contest awaits at Perth with a lot on offer for the quicks 🔥🔥 #TeamIndia #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/k3Y7CQ8DQF

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 13, 2018

Earlier, the head curator of the stadium revealed that they were asked to make a fast bouncy pitch and that is what they have done.

“We’ve just been told make it fast, make it bouncy if you can and run with it,” Sipthorpe was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “We’re just trying to produce the bounciest pitch we can.”

Meanwhile, India skipper Virat Kohli said he was impressed by the new arena and not concerned by a wicket that is set to favour fast bowlers.

“We certainly get more excited than nervous looking at lively pitches now because we understand that we do have a bowling attack that can bowl the opposition out as much as they are confident about their attack,” Kohli said during the pre-match press-conference.

“When you have fast bowlers who are at the peak of their abilities it is always a great thing to have in the side.

“And as batsmen it gives us a lot of motivation and boosts us up to put in those significant match-winning batting performances, because we have so much belief in our bowling unit at the moment.

“We understand that if we bat well, we will definitely get the result that we want,” Kohli added.

India’s 13-man 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

First Published: Dec 13, 2018 12:57 IST