India captain MS Dhoni hinted at resting some of his side's big names for their tour opener against a Chairman's XI in Canberra starting on Thursday.
The first of two practice matches at Manuka Oval is a two-day affair and Dhoni realises he must manage the workload of his senior players ahead of a four-Test series against Australia beginning on Boxing Day.
Most of the Indian squad didn't arrive in Canberra until after 3am on Wednesday, meaning a Thursday start might be a tight turnaround for the likes of Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Dhoni.
All-time greats Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman as well as pace weapon Ishant Sharma were among a group of players who arrived in Australia last week and may be considered for selection from the 17-man touring party.
However, Dhoni must balance a desire to give his key men match practice with the fact the first practice match is effectively against a second-string Chairman's XI.
Dhoni might be tempted to save his stars for the second hit-out - a three-day affair starting on Monday, which will pit them against likely Australian Test batsmen David Warner and Usman Khawaja, as well as outside hopes Phil Hughes and Ed Cowan.
Keeper Wriddhiman Saha, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Abhimanyu Mithun and batsman Virat Kohli have all played four Tests or less and are likely to play.
Speaking to media in the team's first optional training session on Wednesday, Dhoni said he wanted his young troops to gain confidence playing in unfamiliar Australian conditions.
"We would like to give our youngsters an opportunity to start off of course, some of us haven't played much cricket over here," said Dhoni.
"It's slightly different, so we try to make the most of it."
The Indian Test team is still licking its wounds after copping a 4-0 hiding from England away from home back in July and August.
They went from one disaster to the next in that series and Dhoni realises the importance of India building their confidence up early.
"The first game always, if you have momentum on your side it always (builds up)," he said.
"You don't really want to lag too much behind right from the very start, so going with a good start is very crucial.
"We are here close to 12 days early and if 12 days are not enough then one month wouldn't be enough so we have to ... adapt to the conditions."
Chairman's XI captain Ryan Broad says his team will utilise all 12 players in their squad - however he said one-Test player Peter George will have a licence to bowl as much as he wants.
George said the plan was to shake up the Indians and give them the worst possible preparation for the Australian series.
"We definitely don't want to give them a nice walk in the park," he said.
"Cricket is definitely a game of momentum ... and if you start to get on a bad roll it tends to snowball a bit, so if we can manage to do our bit to help the Aussies and peg the Indians back in these games it would be good."
Indian squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, VVS Laxman, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
Chairman's XI squad: Ryan Broad (capt), Cameron Boyce, Joe Burns, Tom Cooper, Alex Doolan, Peter George, Jake Haberfield, Josh Lalor, Tim Ludeman, Glenn Maxwell, Wes Robinson, Dean Solway.
© SMH
