Hauritz faces his biggest test in India

Nathan Hauritz is preparing for the greatest challenge of his career as he gets ready to face Sachin Tendulkar and his batting colleagues at home early next month. The Australians fly out on Sunday for the two-Test series in India and Hauritz said he was not daunted by the prospect of leading Australia's spin attack.

Although he has taken Tendulkar's wicket in a Test in India - on debut in Mumbai in 2004 - Hauritz was filling in for Shane Warne and the expectations were lower. As the No. 1 slow bowler, Hauritz must now play a key role in negating Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and their team-mates, and he said it was the biggest test of his career.

"I'd say so definitely," Hauritz told AAP. "Playing against India in India in those conditions. The wickets where we are playing are not normally the traditional spin-friendly ones, but Tendulkar and those sort of guys, it will be a great challenge."

The first Test is in Mohali starting on October 1, before the teams move to Bangalore to complete the short series. Hauritz has not played since June due to a foot injury but he has the support of the captain Ricky Ponting to remain the first-choice spinner ahead of Steven Smith, who debuted in England.

Smith is also in the squad for this trip and, if conditions suit, Australia might consider playing him alongside Hauritz. However, there is no doubt the Australians would expect more from the senior man Hauritz, who took his first two five-wicket Test hauls during the home series against Pakistan last summer.

"The main thing is to know my game really well," Hauritz said. "It's going to be tough enough bowling against those players, but at the end of the day they are human and they do make mistakes. I've seen enough of Tendulkar's career through the last 20 years to know how he plays and what he likes to play to spin.

"I'm going to have my individual plans against those guys and if they don't work I've definitely got plan B and plan C to go from there. It can be quite tough to bowl over there because the wickets can be very good to bat on and the outfield can be very fast."

The two matches are Australia's last Tests before the Ashes, which begins in Brisbane just over a month after the Test squad members head home. The games are followed by three one-day internationals in India and the Australians also have three ODIs at home against Sri Lanka ahead of the Ashes.