Paine confirms XI for Adelaide first Test

Captain Tim Paine has named Australia's XI for the first Domain Test of the summer, confirming Victoria opener Marcus Harris will make his Test debut and batter Peter Handscomb will play ahead of allrounder Mitch Marsh. 

Paine told reporters on match eve in Adelaide that Harris will open the batting alongside Victoria teammate Aaron Finch and become the 456th male Test player for Australia.

Handscomb edged out Marsh and will bat at No.5. 

It means Australia enter the first Test with just four specialist bowlers - Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. 

Explaining Marsh's omission, Paine said: "We know he's good enough to be a great allrounder at Test level but hasn't quite put it together at Test level yet."

"As this series wears on and you get to places where the wicket is a bit flatter and conditions a bit warmer and bowlers a little more tired, he might have more of a role to play.

"We'll send him back to Shield, get some more cricket under his belt knowing at some stage we're probably going to need him.

"The (Adelaide Oval) wicket over the last few years here has given enough throughout the game. We've got a lot of confidence in Nathan Lyon bowling the overs we need and all three of our quicks are going in very fresh."

Australia coach Justin Langer is wary of an Indian side led by the incomparable Virat Kohli that is aiming to win their first Test series ever in Australia.

"You sense they're smelling blood," Langer told SEN's Whateley. "Just like the great Australian cricket team of 2001 felt and we just fell short (of winning in India) and we were able to (win in) 2004.

"You sense these moments. I'm sensing India feel that.

"They're a good team and they've got a couple of great players and we will show them great respect.

"They haven't had great success in Australia in the past, as Australia haven't had in India. They'll also be under great pressure, I think."

Australia XI: Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c,wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood (vc) 

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar