India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is a doubt for the Boxing Day Test, while Ravindra Jadeja is also facing a race to be fit for the Melbourne meeting.

Ashwin missed the second Test with an abdominal strain as the hosts levelled the four-match series at 1-1.

Jadeja would ordinarily be among the leading candidates to replace Ashwin but is himself battling a shoulder problem and was also absent in Perth last time out.

"When you look at Perth, we felt [Jadeja] was about 70-80 per cent fit and we didn't want to risk that in Perth," India coach Ravi Shastri told reporters.

"If he was 80 per cent fit here, he [would] play.

"He had taken an injection even in India but he played domestic cricket after that.

"He still felt stiff in the shoulder when he came here and he was injected again, and it takes time to settle. It took longer than we expected, hence we had to be careful.

"The last thing we wanted was someone breaking down after five or 10 overs and then we are stuck for players to pick for Melbourne or Sydney.

"We'll have to evaluate [his] fitness over a 24-hour period and take it one step from there, and also [evaluate] the conditions."

On Ashwin, Shastri added: "He has made a very good improvement but then again we have got to see how he pulls up tomorrow. But he looks good as of today."