Tale of two tails that puts Aussies on top

The tale could be in the tail. Australia's tailenders – numbers 8 through to 11 – have outscored India by a massive 171 runs across the opening two Domain Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series.

With the series level at 1-1 ahead of the iconic MCG Boxing Day Test and SCG New Year's Test, the ability of Australia's bowlers to occupy the crease and score regularly could prove a key factor in the outcome.

To put the gulf in context, Australia pacemen Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have been more prolific with the bat than under-pressure India openers Murali Vijay and KL Rahul this series so far.

The visiting team's last four batsmen contributed a paltry 11 runs across two innings in the 146-run defeat in Perth.

While skipper Virat Kohli stood tall with a magnificent first-innings century, India will be looking for more runs from their bowlers in the remaining two Tests.

"It's something that we all work really hard at and we have done for a long time," Starc said after Australia's victory in the inaugural Test match at the Perth Stadium.

"Pat's obviously fantastic at eight. He plays a bit more like a batter than the other three of us and he can bat for long periods of time.

"He just showed in (the first Test in Adelaide) how many balls he can face and really he looks comfortable at the crease.

"He may not at times feel that way, but he looks very comfortable and, when he's batting with someone like (Australia captain Tim) Paine or other batsmen, it's just fantastic.

"Those partnerships make India bowl a lot more overs and then the other three of us, we just try and hang around a bit and score a few runs and face a few balls.

"It's something that I think our tail takes a lot of pride in. And then with the ball we're trying to do the exact opposite for them and try to get them out really quickly."

India has conceded an average of 103 runs to the opposition tail in their past nine Tests, which also takes in their two-Test series against the West Indies and five-Test series against England.

They gave up 156 runs against Australia in Adelaide before claiming a 31-run triumph, while the home team's bowlers contributed 71 runs in Perth.

India were forced to make two changes for the second Test following injuries to ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma.

They were replaced by spin-bowling allrounder Hanuma Vihari, who batted at No.6, and fast bowler Umesh Yadav.

India opted to play four pace bowlers on a greenish WACA wicket, with Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon named player of the match after collecting eight wickets, including five in the first innings.

"They had a longer tail this week, obviously bringing in an extra fast bowler," Starc said.

"I guess someone like a Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) or a (Ravi) Jadeja, who probably bat a bit better than perhaps maybe Umesh did this week, could have made things interesting, or another spinner.

"But I think we probably over-attacked a little bit in Adelaide and so I think we learned a from that in the second innings in Adelaide and then this week. Obviously a different wicket, we bowled a little bit differently to the tail this week.

"We probably repaid a few favours which they did to us in the third innings, so it'll be a different story again next week I guess in Melbourne depending on what the wicket is."

Australia have named an unchanged 13-man squad for the final two Tests.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

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, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, 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