Langer's new chance to strike an old chord

It's been more than a decade since Justin Langer led the team song but in his new role as Australia coach, he might yet once again be called upon to belt it out.

Langer held the coveted position of song master for four years from 2003 to 2007 before passing on the role to champion batsman Mike Hussey, who in turn handed the duties to Nathan Lyon upon his retirement in 2013.

It wasn't until Lyon's 10th Test as song master – the opening match of the 2013-14 Ashes – that he had the opportunity to lead the song, but he has done so now at least 30 times after Test match wins plus the countless occasions when an encore was requested or deemed appropriate.

But with Langer at the helm, there are now two song masters in the Australia Test squad and Lyon is open to the idea of letting Langer take the reins again.

"I don't think that's out of the question," Lyon told cricket.com.au ahead of the summer.

"I think there's going to be opportunities for myself to invite Justin into the team song to ramp the boys up a little bit.

"The challenge of leading the team song is you're trying to put a different spin on each Test to make it special for everyone in that changing room.

"That's where I get real nervous about doing it because you've got to actually try and make it special, not for yourself but for everyone else.

"It may be someone's first team song, it might be someone's last one, so you just never know."

The team song, comprised of four verses repeated twice and called Under the Southern Cross, is performed after each Test match win and limited-overs series victory.

Langer enjoyed 38 Test wins during his tenure as song master, and says the honour is one of the highest accolades of his playing career.

But whether he'll step back in and lead the song once more, he says those days are behind him.

"I'll be a willing participant but I've had my time," Langer told cricket.com.au recently.

"I think Lyon will do a good job, maybe I can give him a bit of coaching in it, you never know.

"I'm pretty passionate about the team song, I remember when 'Punter' (Test great Ricky Ponting) asked me to do it in Galle in Sri Lanka (2004) for his first Test as captain, it was one of the highlights of my career.

Image Id: CAAA2CCF9E0D43D5B0DCF7F6F21B2423 Image Caption: Langer and new Test captain Ponting in 2004 // Getty

"I was never Australian captain, but to be the Australian song master, that was a great day in my life and a great period actually for when I was privileged enough to do it."

While Langer and Lyon have differing views about the coach's potential involvement, Mitch Marsh – who fielded as 12th man in lieu of the injured Aaron Finch in the final innings of the Perth Test – can see the 105-Test veteran returning to his old post.

"He's got a real love for singing the Australian team song," Marsh told cricket.com.au ahead of the summer.

"I think that's probably what he misses the most about not playing cricket anymore and he's already spoken about how much he wants to do it.

Image Id: 7D4D7F71463643C2B0120A6AADA47E0C Image Caption: Lyon leads the team song in Adelaide, 2014 // Getty

"So, I think that should be a really big carrot dangling for us.

"He used to run the team song back in the day so I don't know, he might even take over from 'Gazza' (Lyon) at the helm of running the team song, that would be awesome.

"I reckon Gazza would probably give the handball pretty quickly.

"Gazza gets a bit nervous about team song, so I reckon JL might take over."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval, India won by 31 runs

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, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, 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