Josh Hazlewood's clinical finish to New Zealand's innings on the weekend was brushed aside amid Mitchell Marsh's heroics but will be just what Australia needs in the World Twenty20. 
Given the threadbare nature of the country's bowling stocks, it would be a major surprise if the world-class Hazelwood was not picked in the 15-man squad to be announced on Tuesday.
The giant paceman was rested from the three-game series against India but his presence was sorely missed as an inexperienced attack was carted.
Hazlewood would add bite to Australia's new-ball plans and provide a calm head at the death.
In both games of the Chappell-Hadlee series he has limited the damage in the closing overs - a trait that was absent in the recently completed T20s.
Hazlewood has played only four games in the national T20 side but was a key weapon in the Sydney Sixers' success in the now-defunct Champions League in 2012.
James Faulkner and the much-improved John Hastings are likely to fill out the pace ranks.
Australia will take at least two frontline spinners to the subcontinent with leggies Cameron Boyce and Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon all in the frame.
Lyon has the international experience but Boyce and Zampa are in better form with the white ball.
Zampa, however, feels there is room for only he or Boyce on the plane to India.
"You need to have most bases covered so you'd probably have a wrist spinner and a finger spinner, and then you're going to have your all-rounder and your batters," Zampa said.
"So to have two wrist spinners in the squad is probably fairly tough work but I don't know. I'm not a selector."
Australia's strength will be in their batting where David Warner, Steve Smith and Shane Watson, who all have lucrative deals in the Indian Premier League, shape as major weapons.
Selector Rod Marsh has all but guaranteed Usman Khawaja will be in the squad while skipper Aaron Finch has said he is making a smooth recovery from his hamstring strain.
The embarrassment of riches with the bat will put pressure on Shaun Marsh and former captain George Bailey to make the final cut.
Glenn Maxwell is a certainty while Mitchell Marsh has thrown his name in the mix with a string of high-class performances.
Marsh did not feature in the 17-man T20 squad for last month's series but his $1 million deal with Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL auction shows the free market rates him highly. His lively seam bowling will be handy if Australia elect to play two frontline spinners.
Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Andrew Tye and Shaun Tait were all hits in the Big Bash but their failure to transfer their red-hot domestic form onto the international stage has not helped their cause.