India bowling attack wins praise

Geoff Lawson rates India's current fast bowling group as good as he has seen in a long time, heading into next week's Test series.

And the former Australian paceman has been backed up by Australian T20 and ODI batsman Darcy Short, who felt the Indian attack performed well on a flat batting track at the SCG in the tourists' warm-up match at the SCG.

Short scored 74 for a Cricket Australia XI, who on Saturday made 541 on the final day of the game.

The prime candidates for India's Test attack got a good workout with pacemen Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma all bowling over 20 overs and frontline spinner Ravi Aswhin sending down more than 30.

"I think they're still a good attack. The pitch is quite good for batting," Short said.

Asked specifically about the Indian pace attack, Short said: "Ishant just hits a length and doesn't really give you much to score off.

"The other two try to attack your stumps and try to swing it both ways, especially with the ball reversing - they try to get you that way.

"They're quite skiddy, good skills with the ball. They're all a little bit different."

While previous Indian pace attacks have struggled to impress in Australian conditions, Lawson liked the look of the current crop.

"They have got some terrific fast bowlers, as good a group as I've seen for a long time and they've got the spinners that always do the job," Lawson told AAP.

"Ishant Sharma's last time out here he got extra bounce.

"Umesh Yadav bowls freak (deliveries), Mohammed Shami has been swinging it, Bhuvneshwar Kumar swings it as well.

"They are not going to play all four, they are going to play three and maybe one or two spinners.

"The first Test (is) in Adelaide, so they got their wish there didn't they, not playing in Brisbane or Perth.

"They've got four good guys and they've got some extra pace so that will be a big challenge I'm expecting a really good series."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

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, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, 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