Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Thursday won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first of four Tests of a hotly anticipated series.

The tourists handed an international debut to off-spinner Todd Murphy on a Nagpur pitch which is expected to turn viciously.

Murphy will partner senior spinner Nathan Lyon, while Peter Handscomb comes in for Travis Head.

India handed Test caps to Twenty20 batting sensation Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat, with the families of both players in attendance at the ground.

Skipper Rohit Sharma said he would also have batted first on the "pretty dry" pitch, with the hosts playing three spinners and two seamers.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returns to the team after recovering from a career-threatening knee injury.

 

Teams

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland

Umpires: Nitin Menon (IND), Richard Illingworth (ENG)

TV Umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)

Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)