Australia one-day international captain Michael Clarke will promote himself to No.3 if it helps the team and says regaining the top ranking is within reach of his side.

Clarke’s men have dropped to fourth following last month’s 4-0 series defeat against England and will face minnows Afghanistan in a one-off ODI clash at Sharjah on Saturday.

“I don’t know if I’ve moved up to No.3. I’m reading it in the media but I certainly haven’t made anything official at this stage,” Clarke told a media conference in Dubai on Friday.

“I’ve made it very clear since taking over the captaincy that I’ll bat wherever is best suited for the team.

“In this series if me batting three is the right option, that’s what I’ll do,” the regular No.4 batsman added.

Top-order batsman Shane Watson’s absence with a calf injury and the failure of others to grasp the No.3 role in England have left Clarke pondering taking matters into his own hands.

“When we left England we were still the No.1-ranked team in the world,” Clarke said.

“Because of other teams playing, we’ve slipped back down to four.

“But to me it’s about playing really good consistent cricket all around the world and I know we’ll get back to being No.1.

“No doubt Pakistan’s on my mind but our focus as a team has been on Afghanistan.

“After Saturday’s game we’ll sit down then and look at the Pakistan side (for the upcoming three-game series).”

Australia’s 15-man squad includes uncapped duo Alister McDermott and Glenn Maxwell.

Clarke says he’ll discuss a final XI with selector-on-duty Rod Marsh and acting head coach Steve Rixon.

“The wicket looks quite hard. There’s no grass on it at all,” Clarke said.

Australia’s spin attack will be led by Xavier Doherty, with possible help from Steve Smith, Maxwell, Clarke and David Hussey.

“As the game goes on there’ll probably be a little bit more spin,” Clarke said.

“They (Afghanistan) know the conditions a lot better than we do.

“It’s an opportunity for them to come out with nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

“We don’t really know what it’s going to be like starting a match at six o’clock at night.

“We haven’t done that before in one-day cricket.”

Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal says spin could be his side’s trump card on their home ground.

“We are working on our spinners a lot,” he said.

Afghanistan’s second ODI game against a full-member country is a huge moment for the team, he says.