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Adelaide: Australia and India face biggest mental battle after tragic death of Phillip Hughes face in the first Test at Adelaide Oval start from Tuesday.
The death of Phillip Hughes will inevitably cast a long shadow over Australia's delayed series against India when it finally gets underway.
There will undoubtedly be minutes of silence and black armbands to remember Hughes and his death will be still on the minds of his former team mates, not least those who were present at the Sydney Cricket Ground when he suffered the fatal blow.
The tragedy, however, should not much alter the competitive nature of a series which, after Adelaide, will continue with the rescheduled Brisbane match before the Boxing Day test in Melbourne and a delayed New Year's encounter in Sydney.
Australia turned their fortunes around last year on the back of a fiercely aggressive brand of cricket nurtured by coach Darren Lehmann as well as the pace bowling of Mitchell Johnson, whose bouncer is a key part of his repertoire.
They are unlikely to give up any edge lightly as they take on an India touring party, who showed in their final warm-up match they will not be shy about using the short ball.
Virat Kohli and Michael Clarke will lead India and Australia, respectively, in the first Test. Kohli told reporters that MS Dhoni will not take the field in the Adelaide Test as he is yet to fully recover from the hand injury that kept him out of the originally-scheduled first Test from December 4-8 in Brisbane.
Dhoni, who had joined the team on December 5, had his first training session on Sunday and reportedly showed no signs of being unfit raising speculation that he might go on to captain the team.
Clarke, who was in doubt for the series opener due to recurring hamstring troubles and was struggling emotionally after the death of friend and former team-mate Phil Hughes, was passed fit to play on Monday. Hughes was symbolically named 13th man in the squad for the Adelaide Test.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is nursing an ankle injury, has been given one more day to prove his fitness and a decision on him will be taken on the morning of the match day.
India have slumped to sixth in the world rankings after series defeats in New Zealand and England this year, while Australia are second despite a 2-0 humbling at the hands of Pakistan in October.
Australia's showing against Pakistan highlighted their shortcomings against spin, while India have rarely thrived where the tracks are hard and bouncy, and will be seeking a first test series triumph in Australia at their 11th attempt.
The tourists lack the batting pedigree the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman brought three years ago but the 4-0 whitewash they suffered then illustrated once again that in Australia, it is the pace bowling that matters.
The hosts boast up to 10 quicks they can rotate over the series with the trio of Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle likely to get the first crack at the Indians.
Ishant Sharma will lead an inexperienced India attack and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja will be hoping the batting can keep the tourists in the contests long enough so that he can take advantage of any late turn.
Teams from
Australia: Michael Clarke (Captain), Brad Haddin (wk), Shane Watson, David Warner, Chris Rogers, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon and Shaun Marsh
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Naman Ojha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron
Pitch and conditions
Adelaide Oval now uses drop-in pitches but the curator Damian Hough said on match eve that he expected "a typical Adelaide Oval pitch" for the Test. The forecast for most of the Test is for fine weather and temperatures around 15-20 degree celcius.
Stats and trivia
Match facts
Dec 9-13, 2014, Adelaide Oval
Start time 10.30 local (00.00 GMT)
