Andrew McDonald has all but confirmed Usman Khawaja's spot at the top of the order in his native Pakistan as Australia prepare to tour there for the first time in 24 years.
The interim coach also said he hadn't officially put his hat in the ring for the permanent job following Justin Langer's resignation, despite the likelihood of Cricket Australia settling on a replacement mid-tour.
The Test squad will depart this weekend for Australian cricket's first tour of any kind since Mark Taylor's men visited in 1998.
The three-Test series, beginning in Rawalpindi on March 4, will be the first abroad for Pat Cummins as captain and Australia's first away Tests since the 2019 Ashes.
And it comes hot on the heels of Langer's controversial departure.
McDonald insists the coaching decision won't distract him, even though he admits he'll need to make a call "once we see what the job looks like".
"I haven't had any conversations ... there's been speculation around whether it'll be split roles or one coach," McDonald said.
"That will all come out, but the key thing for us is to focus on the cricket.
"(But) clearly I'll have to make a decision before that (series finishes) if the process is run to the timeline CA are giving."
The former Test allrounder would rather discuss his likely team, backing in Khawaja to partner fellow 35-year-old David Warner at the top of the order and endorsing Cameron Green's ability as the third seamer to accommodate two spinners.
He said Marcus Harris, who has returned to form for Victoria since Khawaja forced his way back to the top of the Australian order in the last Ashes Test, could still feature in a different role in Pakistan.
"He's going well, putting runs on the board which is not uncommon for Marcus to be making lots of runs at Sheffield Shield level," McDonald said.
"He's an option, we know what he can do, can he fit into the middle order if something were to go awry there? That's a potential as well.
"Usman you would say is a fair chance to start in the first Test match after what he did this summer, but we have options, competition for spots and that's healthy."
McDonald is confident the squad will be versatile enough to cope with whatever is presented.
"It's a little bit of the unknown and that's always exciting, going somewhere were you haven't before, there's no recent trends there," he said.
"You say Pakistan are unpredictable, but in their own conditions there is an element of predictability.
"They like to draw games out, they play the long game, they're patient.
"It's been well documented that Australian teams travelling to the sub continent have had difficulty.
"It's a new era ... so we get a chance to write our own chapter."
