India left out Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar and Umesh Yadav in the 12-man shortlist named for the first game of their full tour of Australia - the Brisbane T20I on Wednesday. Interestingly, Rishabh Pant - and not Dinesh Karthik - has been named as the designated wicketkeeper. Karthik - who donned the gloves in the recently-concluded home series against Windies - however, is also in line to play in Brisbane.

This move could be in line with the plan that was set in motion when the decision was made to rest MS Dhoni from both the Windies and Australia's T20I series. Chief selector MSK Prasad had then said: "The T20Is here [against Windies] and in Australia, he [Dhoni] is not going to play, because we are also looking at a second wicketkeeper. That will be between Rishabh and Dinesh Karthik. So they will be getting a chance to keep and bat."

While most of the players pick themselves, there could be toss up in the second half of the line-up. Ravi Shastri's recent admission that India will miss the all-round skills of Hardik Pandya could be a hint that Krunal - his brother who is also an all-rounder - might get a look in to bring balance to the final XI that Shastri and Kohli often seek.

Considering the Brisbane surface is likely to offer bounce, India might tilt towards playing all three quicks at their disposal. In all likelihood, that'll push Yuzvendra Chahal to the bench.

India's 12-man shortlist: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal