Australia's starting XI for first Test is far from known

Hyderabad: For the first time in perhaps a long time, the Australians are faced with a situation where they are still not sure of their first choice playing XI, barely a few days before the first Test at Bangalore.

The batsmen pick themselves into the team, while it is the bowling unit that is faced with a few question marks.

Australian coach Tim Nielsen conceded that there were still places up for grabs; he said, "There's still two or three spots people are still trying to force their way into, it depends a little bit on what the Indian team is as well, whether they pick a lot of right hand batsmen or left-hand batsmen and that might make a little bit of a difference to our spinning options.

However, he hinted that they were looking at the possibility of fielding a three-pace-one-spin attack in the Bangalore Test. He said, "I think we did a pretty reasonable job in the West Indies playing on low, flat, pretty slow wickets that spun late in the game, especially the first two Tests with three quicks and a spinner, so I'd expect that's what the mix will be, I think that suits the way we play best.

"We'll just have to sort out what that mix is and who our spinner is, basically."

Australia's bowling attack on tour includes Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, allrounder Shane Watson and rookies Douglas Bollinger, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain and Jason Krejza.