Coach looks to Johnson

Australia's coach Tim Nielsen believes Mitchell Johnson might be the man who can unnerve India's strong batting line-up if he is picked for the Boxing Day Test. Johnson was impressive in his first two Tests against Sri Lanka last month but the re-emergence of Shaun Tait has left him uncertain of a place for the Melbourne match.

However, Johnson has an excellent record against India in one-day internationals with 19 wickets at an average of 16 and he was the leading wicket-taker for either side in the recent ODI series in India. Nielsen said that would work in his favour when the selectors decided on their final 11 for Boxing Day.

"He's had really good success," Nielsen said. "He's knocked over their top order consistently over the last couple of years. When the selectors sit down and have a look at the best mix for a team against India I'm sure the fact Mitchell's knocked over the likes of Tendulkar and Ganguly and Dravid consistently over the last couple of years will be a big tick in his box."

Tait was still recovering from elbow surgery when Australia played Sri Lanka, leaving Johnson as the obvious candidate to back up Brett Lee and Stuart Clark in the pace attack. But Johnson was left out of the ODIs against New Zealand as Australia wanted to give Tait some match time and Tait's success meant Johnson was suddenly being mentioned as a possible 12th man for Boxing Day.

"He's been so good in the Test match arena especially," Nielsen said. "The biggest challenge for him is not to think 'what do I have to change to get back in' it's just to understand that 12 doesn't fit into 11 [for the ODIs]."

Australia have not decided whether to experiment with a four-man pace attack in Melbourne as the MCG pitch remains a mystery. Rain has bucketed down in Melbourne over the past few days, meaning the centre-wicket area is still under cover.