First Test: Australia v India Dates: 26-30 December
Play starts: 2330 Wednesday GMT
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground
Australia’s Adam Gilchrist does not want the Test series against India to feature the verbal clashes that marred recent one-day games in India.
The four-Test series gets underway with the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Australia’s one-day series in India in October was marred by on-field spats.
“Hopefully … the players are not going to go down the route again of getting too carried away with it,” said wicket-keeper Gilchrist.
“It will be hard-fought. They’re a team that has said they want to take the challenge up to us in an aggressive manner
“It all got a bit out of control in the one-day series in India. We want to play hard, aggressive cricket and not go too far with it.”
Australia won the seven-match one-day series 4-2 on a tour organised without Test matches.
Indians are capable and well equipped to defeat the Australians on their home ground
The two sides last played in Tests in 2004, Australia winning their first series in India for 35 years.
India battled to a 1-1 Test series draw in Australia in 2003/04, against a side missing the injured Glenn McGrath and with Shane Warne serving a doping ban.
The two bowlers – who boast 1,271 Test wickets between them – retired at the end of the Ashes series last January.
With veteran spinner Stuart MacGill ruled out after undergoing wrist surgery, Australia have drafted in one-day specialist Brad Hogg, who could play his first Test since 2003.
Fast bowler Shaun Tait has also been recalled to a 12-man squad after missing last month’s 2-0 series victory over Sri Lanka with an elbow injury.
India have an inexperienced pace attack after Pankaj Singh and 19-year-old Ishant Sharma were preferred to Sree Santh and Munaf Patel.
Batsman Virender Sehwag is back in the squad but the tourists experimented with Rahul Dravid as opening partner for Wasim Jaffer during the rain-affected draw with state side Victoria this week.
Meanwhile, fans have been told they could be banned from the MCG for life if they are found to be involved in racial taunting of players and other fans.
Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds was the subject of racial abuse on the October tour of India.
Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Mike Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait.
India (from): Anil Kumble (cap), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Dinesh Karthik.
Source: Gilchrist fires warning for Tests
