Australia have been distracted by a poorly-timed bout of stomach trouble for Michael Clarke as selectors pondered whether to debut a nervous Cameron White for the first Test against India, starting Thursday.

Australia's modest spin plans for the tour had already been thrown by the failure of Bryce McGain to recover from a shoulder strain, leaving his Victorian captain and replacement plainly daunted by what could lie ahead.

And the tourists faced another spin-related drama on Tuesday night with a stomach bug keeping batsman and part-time tweaker Clarke away from training.

He is expected to be fit on Wednesday, but the Australians can ill-afford to be without him, and the virus that confined Shane Watson to bed for several days last week suggests Clarke could be below strength for some time.

Though he's only been in India for two days, White is favoured to become the 402nd Australian Test cricketer, with captain Ricky Ponting's desire to have a spinner in the team and the destruction of Jason Krejza by the Indian Board President's XI in Hyderabad last week.

White bowled only 84 overs in first-class cricket for the Bushrangers last summer, taking six wickets at 47, and conceded it was an enormous leap from his traditional role as a batting allrounder to that of a specialist spinner on the subcontinent.

"Yeah, it does (take some time to get your head around) to be honest, it's a little bit daunting, I'm probably a little bit nervous at the moment as well," White said.

"So I don't really know what my role is if it does happen, probably a pretty big 'if' at the moment, so the next couple of days I'll get more information and go from there."

National chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch stationed himself at the rear of the Australian spinners' net on Tuesday as he pondered who to take into the Test.

Hilditch had cited White's success with the ball while leading Australia A to a one-day tournament success in India last month as a key factor in his inclusion.

But the man himself mused that there was so much difference between the two forms of the game that many of his eight wickets in that series could be disregarded completely.

"It is a little hard to judge and weigh it up, I bowled okay, but one-day cricket is a lot different, the batters are playing lots of shots and you get wickets in ways you probably wouldn't imagine in the longer form of the game," White said.

"I guess probably in my own mind first and foremost if the opportunity did come (my role) would just be to not be too expensive, just play that holding role maybe," he said.

"As you know, I'm probably not a big spinner of the ball, probably the pitches in Australia tend to bounce a little more.

"I've only played a couple of four-day games here in the past and I don't really tend to bowl too wide, I'm usually down the middle of the wicket or the best part of the wicket, so I just rely more on changes of pace and a wrong'un more than anything."

White has bowled to an Indian side once before, in a tour match for Victoria in 2003, when he claimed 4-59 from 18 overs, a haul inflated by three tail-end wickets.