Khawaja, Warner and Australian captain Steve Smith all performed well when they  faced the pink ball in the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and NSW at the Gabba in October. Warner and Smith both posted centuries, while Khawaja made 79 in the first innings of the clash, which was won by NSW.

Handscomb is one of several players in the Australian squad who haven't played a pink-ball match at the venue, and will do so for the first time in the first Test against Pakistan, beginning on Thursday. The Victorian – who made a half-century in his debut Test last month against South Africa – said he'd be having a chat to his more experienced teammates to ready himself for the experience. "We'll definitely speak about what might potentially happen here at the Gabba," Handscomb said after arriving in Brisbane ahead of the Test.

"Guys like Davey Warner and Usman Khawaja have played Shield games here in a day-night pink ball format, so we'll be looking to them to try to get an understanding of what the wicket might do, but also what the ball might do.

"Playing more and more games with the pink ball you start to get an understanding of how it does react. But it does vary from place to place, and I've played most of my day-night Shield games down south, I haven't played at the Gabba under lights with the pink ball. So it'll be interesting to see if it is any different, but we'll just have to wait until we get out there.

"Looking at the day-night Shield game that was here... there's still enough there for the batters if they get it right, and obviously there's a little bit there for the bowlers as well so it should be a good game."

The Gabba is known for its humidity, and there has been speculation that the Pakistani quicks will be particularly difficult to play under lights.

The Pakistanis comfortably won their tour match against a Cricket Australia XI – played with a pink ball in Carins – and Handscomb said the tourists would provide a challenge, even though he wasn't sure whether conditions in Cairns would mirror what is to come in Brisbane. "Obviously they're a world-class side," Handscomb said of the team who sat atop the ICC Test rankings earlier in the year.

"They've been playing very good cricket now a while and they have some good conditions up in Cairns, but that's another two hour plane ride north of Brisbane. So it could be interesting to see if those conditions are the same at the Gabba."

The Gabba has traditionally hosted the first Test of the summer, but that was changed this year with the three Tests against the Proteas played in Perth, Hobart and Adelaide. However while the schedule was altered, Australia remain unbeaten in Gabba Tests since 1988 – before Handscomb and several of his teammates were born.

Handscomb wasn't aware of the strength of Australia's record at the venue, but was happy to be informed. "Yeah that's pretty good. I didn't know that stat. So I reckon I'll tell the boys that and we'll go in with a little more confidence going into this game, so that's a good one."

While Australia's win against South Africa in Adelaide ended a run of five straight Test losses, the hosts have a formidable home record against Pakistan, who haven't won a Test in this country for more than 20 years.