Australia were scheduled to play a warm-up match against Board President's XI, a three-day fixture starting 30 September.

It included three frontline spinners, Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White, and two part-timers Simon Katich and Michael Clarke.

White's ability with the bat was cited by the selectors as the reason for his inclusion over MacGill, in addition to his spin bowling.

Uncapped all-rounder Shane Watson was included as a specialist batsman on the back of good performances in the Australian domestic season.

[8] Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who sustained a thumb injury during the Champions Trophy, was replaced by Brad Hodge for the First Test.

[13] However, he stated he "really want[ed] to play" and that he was "hoping and praying that I am fit for the series, but it is important to be in good shape for that challenge.

An injured Ashish Nehra was left out of the squad that saw three other pacemen in Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, the latter of who was included owing to a good record against Australia.

"[16] In India's squad announced for the Fourth Test, Patel, Chopra, Singh and Agarkar were excluded and four uncapped players were brought in — batsmen Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik, and paceman Shib Paul.