Michael Clarke remains unavailable for Australia's one-day clash with India at the Gabba on Sunday, granting Ricky Ponting the chance for redemption after presiding over an eight-wicket loss in his return to the captaincy post against Sri Lanka on Friday.
With Clarke's right-hamstring keeping him sidelined, Tasmanian skipper George Bailey has been hauled north as batting stand-by and Ponting will retain the captaincy in the battle with the Commonwealth Bank Series leaders.
And it's the batting department in which the Aussies will need to lift. After four matches there still hasn't been an Australian reach triple figures and the team's best collective effort was there 269-run total in a four-wicket loss to India.
David Hussey has been exceptional in the middle order, leading the competition for runs scored (218) and average (72.67), all the while maintaining a strike-rate of more than a run a ball.
But there hasn't been a lot of other batting success to celebrate. New boys Matthew Wade and Peter Forrest have played some promising knocks, but consistency has been lacking throughout the top order.
Following the loss to Sri Lanka, Ponting was hoping his side would learn a lesson and then move on quickly for their next big test.
"We needed to bounce back pretty strongly from our last performance... I had a really good feeling going into the game that we'd be able to get some momentum going in this one-day series again and we just had a really poor day, bat, ball and in the field," he said.
"The bottom line is we're going to have to move on pretty quick."
"We know we travel on Saturday and play again on Sunday against a good Indian team so we just have to learn whatever we can from the game and move on pretty quickly."
For the Indians, the runs have been coming a little more freely. With two wins and a tie to show from their first four starts, a lot of the credit should fall on opening dasher Gautam Gambhir, who has led the way with two 90s.
Captain MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have both patches of form, and both will be motivated for any clash with the Australians.
With the host nation struggling with conditions fumbling to 158 all out against the Sri Lankans on Friday, the return to a likely fast and bouncing Gabba track will provide serious encouragement.
Consistently voted at the top of cricket wickets in the country, there will be value for shots, but more than enough spark to extract for the in-form seam bowlers in both sides.
Victorian Clint McKay and India's medium-pace surprise package Vinay Kumar are joint leading wicket-takers in the competition, taking their poles at averages of 16.22 and 20.11, respectively.