Legendary spinner Shane Warne has refused to rule out a shock international comeback to a depleted India-bound team even though he tipped an aging Bryce McGain as new number one Australian Test spinner.

"In my life I’ve learnt never to say never," Warne was quoted as saying by the ‘Courier Mail’.

"But at the moment I’m very happily retired and I’m very happy with my life," he said.

Warne said the 36-year-old McGain was the top spinner in the country and added he had experience at his side.

"If you look at the spinners at the moment in Australia he is the best," Warne said.

"He has slowed his pace down and is spinning it beautifully. Being 36 is an advantage for him experience wise and he has basically played club cricket once a week for most of his career so his body isn’t a worry.

"I don’t see it as a backwards step that Beau Casson is gone. This is a tour of India and they have really good players of spin and we don’t want to ruin anyone," he added.

McGain, who has played only 19 first-class matches and taken 57 wickets at 33, was yesterday named as Australia’s frontline spinner for the arduous four-Test tour of India and will partner rookie Tasmanian off-spinner Jason Krejza in a 15-man squad.

He is set to become Australia’s oldest Test debutant in 24 years.

Meanwhile, Warne has said that former team-mate Andrew Symonds showed a lack of respect to the Australian team in Darwin last month, but he has urged the all-rounder not to take the easy option by exiting the international game. Symonds was cut from the one-day series against Bangladesh for going fishing instead of attending a team meeting and was not included in the squad to face India next month.

Warne was upset Symonds, who has been around the team for a decade, did not act like a senior player while the injured pair of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden were missing from the squad. It was left to Michael Clarke, the acting captain, and team management to make the decision to send Symonds home.

"I would have thought that if Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke were good friends, then Symo would have more respect for Michael Clarke than that," Warne said in the Herald Sun. "I think it’s disappointing that he put a young captain like Michael Clarke in that position.

"It was disappointing from Symo, especially with the Australian team not having senior players like Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden there. It’s not a one-off thing, and I just think Symo has showed a lack of respect."

However, Warne said he did not want Symonds to walk away and focus instead on the Indian Premier League. Symonds trained with Matthew Hayden in Brisbane last week and is waiting to make a decision on whether to be part of Queensland’s start to the domestic season next month.

"I would be disappointed if he took the easy option and just threw it away," Warne said. "He could do that and just take his cash from the IPL, but to me that would be the easy option. The hard option and the option that will satisfy him and earn him some respect is to come back a better person and show how important playing for Australia is to him."