Melbourne, Jan 31: Australia has included five fast bowlers, two specialist spinners, a medium pacer and a spin bowling allrounder in its 17-man squad named Thursday for the four-test cricket tour of India starting next month.
James Pattinson returns to the test lineup after injury to join fellow pacemen Jackson Bird, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson.
Xavier Doherty has been named along with Nathan Lyon as the squad's spin bowlers, while chairman of selectors John Inverarity says allrounders Moises Henriques and Glenn Maxwell added flexibility.
John Inverarity has turned up the heat on Nathan Lyon by suggesting the lead spinner's role could be up for grabs in India.
Xavier Doherty grabbed a place in the team in the absence of injured left-arm orthodox spinners Michael Beer and Jon Holland.
One option during the four-Test series starting in Chennai on February 22 is to field Lyon with Doherty in an attack comprising two pacemen and seam-bowling all-rounder Moises Henriques.
Another is to play three quicks, one specialist spinner and off-spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell. In that scenario, Inverarity suggested Lyon, the incumbent, does not have a mortgage on the main spinner's position, reports The Age.
"Another alternative is to play three pace bowlers, our leading spinner, whether that be Xavier Doherty or Nathan Lyon, then have the back-up with the all-rounder being Glenn Maxwell."
Doherty, who edged out Steve O'Keefe, has a first-class bowling average of 44.78 and endured a harrowing Test initiation against England's batsmen during the ill-fated 2010-11 Ashes.
Inverarity said: "It is a long tour and a very important one as we look to continue our improvement in Test cricket and our quest to return to the top of the ICC Test cricket rankings. We are also building towards back-to-back Ashes series".
He expressed confidence that David Warner will be fit for the first Test.
The selection panel did not feel the need to name a standby batsman for Warner, who has a "slightly" fractured thumb and is expected to miss the one-day series against the West Indies.
Ben Hilfenhaus was not considered because he is on the comeback trail from a side injury but the swing bowler is expected to remain in contention for the Ashes.
The squad will leave for India in two batches, with an advance party to depart on Thursday for a red-ball camp in Chennai, and the rest of the squad to follow a week later.
Inverarity said that the composition of the squad has been "carefully thought out" to have the flexibility required to deal with varying Indian conditions.
"The thinking is we need more than four bowlers..." he said.
Inverarity said the selectors feel there is a need to develop all-rounders, particularly with Shane Watson unable to bowl due to injury concerns. He described Henriques as a "young cricketer of great potential".
Test squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Moises Henriques, James Pattinson, Xavier Doherty, Jackson Bird, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith.
