India are looking to the one-day series against Australia as an opportunity to start addressing a key shortfall outside the subcontinent - their lack of all-rounders who specialise in pace rather than spin.
Their squad for the five-match series, which begins on Tuesday in Perth, has seen a third of the squad from last year's World Cup shed. The most prominent casualties are Suresh Raina and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose selection has been confined to the three Twenty20s at the end of   January.
All but one of the five replacement players are uncapped at international level. The only exception is batsman Manish Pandey, who has played a one-dayer and two Twenty20s. The two players who will vie for the role of seam-bowling all-rounder are Rishi Dhawan, 25, and Hardik Pandya, 22. The former is said to be better with ball, while the latter emerged in Ricky Ponting's title-winning Mumbai team in last season's IPL. 
Even though MS Dhoni's team reached the semi-finals of last year's World Cup, the captain identified the absence of seam-bowling options beyond their pacemen as a flaw. "Most of the teams that are very consistent ... they've got good all-rounders, and more often than not they've got all-rounders who can bowl seam up, fast-bowling all-rounders. That is something that we are lacking," Dhoni said ahead of the team's departure for Australia.
"You have to rely on them slightly more when you are touring outside. In the subcontinent you can still rely on the spinning all-rounder ... but that's not the case outside the subcontinent. At times you need that seaming all-rounder."
In addition to Dhawan, Pandya and Pandey, India's new players are Gurkeerat Singh, an all-rounder who bowls off-spin, and left-arm paceman Barinder Sran.
The exclusion of Raina has created a vacancy in India's middle order. Spinning all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel will vie for the No.7 position, to be followed by R Ashwin and the pacemen.
While in Tests it is generally considered No.6 is the gentlest position for a new batsmen, Dhoni said it was the toughest in one-dayers, seemingly because of the likelihood of having to bat at the death. He said he was undecided on whether to choose one of the new batsmen for that position.
"That No.6, No.7 is the most difficult place for any batter, especially if you're making your debut," Dhoni said. "We've tried almost everyone, right from Rohit [Sharma], Virat [Kohli] ... the tricky part is whether to push that individual to bat at six, or give him a chance to bat at No.5, and maybe I'll have to take that pressure off by batting at No.6," Dhoni added.
Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh will join the India squad for the Twenty20s.
SQUADS
INDIA(ODIs): MS Dhoni (c), R Ashwin, Rishi Dhawan, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Gurkeerat Singh, Barinder Sran, Umesh Yadav.
INDIA (T20Is): MS Dhoni (c), R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Shami, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Umesh Yadav.