JL drops big Boxing Day selection hint

Coach Justin Langer says Mitchell Marsh is an "attractive commodity" for the Boxing Day Test on a pitch that has a history of pushing the endurance of bowling attacks to the limit.

The Australians are yet to make a decision between Marsh and batsman Peter Handscomb for the third Domain Test against India, but Langer gave the allrounder a strong endorsement on Monday after the WA captain was dropped for the opening two Tests of the series.

While Langer has been buoyed by the green tinge to the heavily-scrutinised MCG pitch, he said the venue's recent history as a bowler's graveyard can't be ignored.

"In a perfectly balanced side, you've got someone who can bowl some overs," the coach said.

"And Mitch becomes an attractive commodity on a wicket (that) unlike Adelaide and Perth … although there's a bit of moisture in it, we also know the history of it.

"Our fast bowlers have been lucky, we've bowled less overs than India's bowlers at the moment, particularly (Jasprit) Bumrah, and that's an important part of the series.

"The more we can look after the guys, the better."

The forecast warm weather will also be front of mind for Langer and selection head Trevor Hohns, as is the short turnaround between Tests heading into the New Year.

If the MCG Test goes the distance, as the first two matches of the series have done, fast bowlers will have just three full days to recover before the series finale starts in Sydney on January 3.

"With the schedule, you're always looking at this Test but you're always looking ahead," Langer said.

"We're always looking at how we're trying to manage it.

"In this instance, this is the only Test we're thinking about. But we're always aware that there's two back-to-back Test matches, which is tough."

The durability of spinner Nathan Lyon, who's send down almost 25 overs more than any other bowler in the series so far, means Australia's pace trio enters this Test having bowled 31 overs less than their Indian counterparts.

Indian spin star Ravichandran Ashwin remains in doubt for the match due to an abdominal strain, but he or left-armer Ravindra Jadeja appears certain to play in Melbourne to lessen the workload on their pace trio of Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami.

Langer conceded the decision between Handscomb and Marsh has been weighing heavily on his mind, joking it's taken his attention off more important things at this time of year.

"Pete's a very good player of spin bowling … and Mitch is a pretty good player of spin bowling too," he said.

"We'll weigh up all those things, and they're the hard decisions. All those factors, trust me, we think about it.

"It's a bit sad, really; I'm not thinking about what Christmas present I'm going to give to my kids, I'm thinking about who plays spin better, whether we'll play the extra bowler, how many overs have the fast bowlers bowled. It's sad."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar