SHANE WARNE'S mentor and wrist spin guru Terry Jenner has criticised Australia's selectors for omitting Stuart MacGill from the squad to tour India next month.

Jenner believes the selectors have made a big mistake by selecting Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White to back up Warne.

Hauritz, 23, was a replacement for Warne in the 2003 World Cup squad and also toured the West Indies as part of the Australian one-day squad shortly afterwards.

Cameron White, 21, is Warne's captain and leg-spinning understudy at Victoria. He has never played international cricket.

And Jenner is convinced that India is not the right place to groom youngsters and leave Warne to carry Australia's spin attack alone in a country where he has never done that well.

"It's very sad that a bloke who has taken 150-odd wickets at Test level has been passed over for two guys who haven't even been successful at first-class level," said Jenner.

"If you were to pick the best two spinners in Australia you'd have to pick MacGill as the second spinner.

"You have to blood youngsters for the future, but Hauritz has had no success and for someone like that to go to the most difficult place in the world for spinners - a place where Shane and Murali have averaged 40 or 50 - what hope does Nathan have?"

Warne is the second highest wicket-taker in Test history with 527 wickets at 24.25 - Muralitharan has five more but has struggled in India.

The Aussie averages 52.25 for his 20 Test wickets there in 1998 and 2001, but injury has been a mitigating circumstance on each occasion - he was recovering from a shoulder operation and a broken finger respectively.

On the last tour Australian coach John Buchanan publicly queried Warne's fitness.

But if Australia are to conquer India, what Steve Waugh called 'Australia's final frontier', for the first time in 35 years next month, Warne will again be the man they depend on.

India is the only country in which Warne has not won a Test series.

"The two tours I've been to India, we've lost both series. In my 13 years of playing international cricket, it's the one place we haven't won and they've played me extremely well," said Warne, who has taken 36 wickets in five Tests since coming back from suspension.

"I haven't been fully fit either, so this time I'm fully fit and bowling as good as I ever have.

"For a spin bowler to play against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, those are three sides that play spinners really well - especially in their own conditions. So to have success against any of those three sides is important."

Should Warne claim the six wickets he needs to move ahead of Muralitharan in the all-time wicket-taking list, the latter has a quick chance to reclaim the lead when he faces Bangladesh in two Tests in November.

"I've got to get wickets against the best sides, and that's what you play for," Warne said. "You want to test yourself against the best."

"There's a lot to play for this time, probably the two best sides in the world and it's probably the hardest place to win in world cricket given how hot it is; the test of your fitness, the heat, the noise, the way they play.

"Our batters are a lot more equipped now having played in Sri Lanka, where they prepared wickets for Murali and we played him very, very well . . . and the way I've bowled in my last 15 or 20 Test matches has been as good as ever."