Australia coach Andrew McDonald insists Matthew Kuhnemann is "shocked" to play the second Test against India while his Queensland team-mate Mitchell Swepson heads home for the birth of his first child.

Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann has been called up to the Australia squad in India and is a "live chance" to make his Test debut in Delhi on Friday.

Kuhnemann, 26, flies in while Mitchell Swepson returns home preplanned for the birth of his first child. Swepson is expected to return ahead of the third Test, the venue of which remains uncertain amid doubts over Dharamshala being able to host the game.

Mitchell Swepson, who was originally in the squad, will leave for Australia following the birth of his child, which is already planned. Australia have called up Matthew Kuhnemann to replace Mitchell Swepson. They already have Ashton Agar on their side, who is also a Left Orthodox, much like Matthew Kuhnemann.

Australia missed an orthodox bowler with his left arm in his side in the first Test. They played 2 off spinners, although they both bowled quite differently, Indian batsmen have a history of fighting orthodox left arm spinners. Australia missed the trick by not playing Ashton Agar in the first game. There is a high probability that Australia will play one of the Left Orthodox weirdos in their squad in the 2nd Test in Delhi.

The only problem they would have to solve when playing against a left-arm orthodox is whether they should let Nathan Lyon out of the playing 11 as they certainly can't try to replace Todd Murphy who excelled in the first game was.

Australia had entered the game with two off-spinners, with debutant Todd Murphy also making a seven-wicket draw. They had decided against picking a left-armed orthodox nutcase in Ashton Agar, who is also part of the squad in India.

Australia lost the first Test by a wide margin of one innings and 132 runs, conceding 400 runs on a spin-friendly surface.

The visitors also await the return of Mitchell Starc from injury in the second Test and assess the fitness of all-rounder Cameron Green.

Kuhnemann has not played a Test for Australia so far but has played four ODIs after making his debut in June 2022.