Renshaw seeks legend's advice for India

Australia's Test opener Matthew Renshaw says he will seek advice from cricketing legend Matthew Hayden before flying out this week for his maiden tour of India.

Quick Single: Hayden praises Renshaw's spin focus

As a tall, left-handed opening batsman from Queensland, Renshaw has inevitably drawn comparisons to Hayden, one of Australia's greatest ever batsmen and a man who averaged more than 50 in Tests in India.

Hayden told cricket.com.au last week that he was yet to meet or speak with Renshaw, who has been a revelation this summer after he was handed a shock debut at Adelaide Oval in late November.

But the 20-year-old says he will attempt to contact Hayden before departing tonight for Australia's pre-tour training camp in Dubai.

Hayden's breakout series in his decorated career came 16 years ago in India, when he plundered 549 runs in three Tests having tuned up for the tour by spending hours mastering his sweep shot and famously dusting up practice pitches in Brisbane to mimic subcontinent conditions.

Renshaw spent time in recent weeks training on the specially-designed spin wicket at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane as part of a mini training camp with teammate Steve O'Keefe and former England spinner Monty Panesar.

Quick Single: Renshaw soaks up Monty's spin tips

Hayden praised his contemporary for his spin-heavy training focus for the tour and said he would relish the chance to meet with the young opener.

"I haven't met Matty and I'm looking forward to the occasion when I do," Hayden told cricket.com.au last week.

"I don't know his game intimately enough (to tell him to sweep), but you've got to have attacking options (in India).

"I think you're a duck waiting to be shot when you're in a situation where you can't attack.

"The conditions are relentless, they just keep coming at you and come at you a thousand miles an hour and you're seemingly under pressure. So you've got to have that circuit-breaker.

"If his game is to sweep and he's decided that's an option, I would fully endorse that. There's a certain technique which I'm sure he would have got advice for."

Following his training block with O'Keefe and Panesar in Brisbane, Renshaw headed to Perth to play in a Future's League clash and he managed scores of just 3 and 12 for Queensland's Second XI against Western Australia's Second XI.

The left-hander will be a part of the first group of Australian players who will head to Dubai tonight and said he was excited about his first ever experience in India.

"I got (Hayden's) number off Andy Bichel, so I might give him a call to get a few quick pointers before I head off," Renshaw told Fairfax.

"I'm not as experienced in the sweep shot as him. (I'll have) a fair bit more practice over the next couple of months.

"I think it helps that I've not been (to India before). It's a challenge. I like to get up for challenges and to love the contest."

The first Test against India begins in Pune on February 23.