ROOKIE speedsters Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson vie to net a debut Australia's optional training session at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium yesterday.

The cause of all the commotion? Doug Bollinger is likely to be wiped out of the second Test by injury and so one of the greenhorns might be receiving a Test debut from Saturday.

George is favourite to get his hands on a baggy green if Bollinger, diagnosed with an abdominal tear, is ruled out.

The 203cm George, who will be 24 on October 16, is the favourite to get his baggy green if Bollinger, diagnosed with an abdominal tear, does not play.

Starc and Pattinson, who only earned their places on the tour when Josh Hazlewood came down with a back injury, are breathing down his neck. The other option is to play leg-spinning allrounder Steve Smith.

"The intensity of the net sessions is obviously is as close as you could get to a match situation. Pattinson reminds me of a (Peter) Siddle - he's like a Siddle clone, really. He just wants to charge in all day and he can swing the ball.

"Starc can swing the ball, too. He has the variety of a left-hander, which also creates rough for Nathan Hauritz to work with. Peter George has so much height. He's got a lot of bounce.

"We'll probably have to go with a bit of a gut feel. Ricky will probably have to be guided by the selectors because I'm sure he hasn't seen a lot of those guys.

"We're still hopeful Dougie might come up but it would be a big gamble."

We play so much cricket these days that keeping your body and especially your mind in good shape is pretty hard to do," Ponting said.

Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson to be rested ahead of Ashes

Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson will all be rested from the three one day matches that follow the current Test series against India.

The duo are arguably Australia's three most valuable players, and they will fly home following the conclusion of the second Test against India at Bangalore in order to freshen up ahead of the Ashes series at home. 

This will also give them maximum time to get used to home conditions again after the jolt of Indian climes. 

"The NSP has decided as part of the ongoing management of Ricky's workload he should not take part in this series. The demands of back-to-back Test matches in tough Indian conditions have been taken into consideration,'' said chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch. 

Queensland's James Hopes and New South Wales' Steve Smith will vie for the allrounder's spot, and big-hitting opening batsman David Warner makes a return to the one-day squad. 

The three-ODI series is from October 17-24.

Squad: 

Michael Clarke (capt), 

Cameron White 

Doug Bollinger 

Callum Ferguson 

Nathan Hauritz 

James Hopes 

Mike Hussey 

Shaun Marsh 

Clint McKay

Tim Paine (wk) 

James Pattinson

Steve Smith 

Mitchell Starc 

David Warner

Simon Katich and Shane Watson punish the Indian Board President's XI

CHANDIGARH, India: Simon Katich and Shane Watson underlined their importance to Australia's Test batting by posting centuries as the tourists marched to 1-319 on day one of the match against the Indian Board President's XI.

Prior middle-order collapses suggest Katich (104 retired) and Watson (115) will need to put on more substantial stands if the team is to be successful against India, and then during the quest for the Ashes.

Katich said he and Watson are intent on building bigger partnerships this summer, after not always capitalising on strong starts in their first 12 months together.

''We tried last summer and both of us were getting 80 or 90 and that was it, but definitely in this next period there's no doubt we'd really like to get some really big scores,'' Katich said.

''It will be tougher because we're playing better teams, but it certainly would be nice to get us off to 0-100, 0-150 and lay that platform.''

SA pace bowler Peter George was chosen for his first appearance in Australian colours after edging out the left-armer Mitchell Starc.