The series against West Indies will be India's only chance to iron out any flaws before embarking on the tough tour of Australia and skipper Mahendra Singh today hinted that the hosts will try out a few things in the home rubber against the Caribbeans starting here tomorrow.
The West Indies are presently touring India for five ODIs, three Tests and one-off Twenty20 International.
On the eve of the first ODI at the Nehru Stadium, Dhoni, however, made it clear that although he will look to experiment with a few things, winning the series is of paramount importance for India.
"We want to see the bigger picture here. We want to do a few things (in the series) because you don't want to go to Australia and say we should have done this, we should have done that. We will see what our cricketers can offer (against West Indies) and I will also see what best I can do," Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference ahead of the first ODI.
"But it is important to start well and look to win the series. This is first and foremost in our minds," he stressed.
After the conclusion of the series against the West Indies, India will tour Australia from December 2014 to January 2015, for four Tests followed by an ODI tri-series that also features England.
So understandably, queries on India's preparation for the Australia tour took most of the attention.
In the absence of injured Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane is expected to take up the responsibility of opening the batting.
But Dhoni did not mince words when he said he always prefers Rahane over Rohit in the opening slot and even hinted that the former can be asked to take up the role in Australia.
"I personally feel Anjinkya (Rahane) has really held through his job as an opener, even in IPL he opens. He has been very consistent against both seamers and spinners. He should take the responsibility of being the opener. Ajinkya has opened for us in the past also in England earlier, not in the recent tour, before that," Dhoni said.
"Ideally, Ajinkya as an opener and Rohit down the order suits us but that is something we will have to wait and watch. Definitely we have some plans in that area. I still feel Ajinkya has much more to offer," he said.
