Mitchell Marsh pushes Handscomb in unchanged Australia squad

The immediate Test future of Peter Handscomb remains the main selection debate for Australia after they named an unchanged 13-man squad for the final two Tests against India at Melbourne and Sydney.

Chris Tremain, who was part of the squad leading into the series, was released before the Perth Test and the selectors have not felt the need to make any changes following Australia's 146-run victory which levelled the series.

Peter Siddle is retained as the back-up pace option to the main three quick men with the big decision heading into Melbourne whether allrounder Mitchell Marsh is recalled in place of the struggling Handscomb who has made 34, 14, 7 and 13 in the series.

It is less about the low scores for Handscomb more the manner of dismissals, with his technique being given a working over by India's quicks as it was by England's in last year's Ashes. In the second innings at Perth he was trapped lbw by a full delivery from Ishant Sharma having previously twice edged behind, albeit he fell to a wonderful Virat Kohli catch on the opening day of the second Test.

Coach Justin Langer said the challenge for Handscomb was to escape the "noise" which comes with a high-profile Test series but added he had started conversations with him about his method.

"There's areas he can improve and every one of our players can improve," Langer told Fox Cricket. "Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, they're all working so hard on their game. What's hard is you come into an environment like this and then there's so much spotlight on your game. So it's just another distraction for him.

"The only thing I've spoken to him about so far is I wonder if he's watching the ball because there's times where he was playing back to balls he could've played forward to, forward to one he could've played back to. That's the toughest thing about Test cricket, concentrating on the next ball, and when there's all this noise and distraction, that's the courage and skill of Test cricket."

Looking ahead to the third Test and the consideration of including Marsh as a fifth bowling option, regardless of the form debate around Handscomb, Langer said that the MCG pitch would be the greatest consideration in varying the balance of the team, but he did not have any concerns about the workload of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

"We'll look at the wicket, as there's been a lot of talk about this wicket, there's been a lot of talk about the MCG wicket after last year. In terms of the quicks, I think they're all going beautifully at the moment, they've bowled a lot of overs but we've got a decent rest and all three of those guys super professional so they will be raring to go.

"Conditions are going to be different at the MCG than they were here and then in Sydney. We will have to pick what we think is the best combination to win both of those Tests. If it's this XI then great. But if we have to make some changes I am sure will talk about that at some stage."

Squad Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc