Clarke to play, Marsh and Hazlewood left out

Michael Clarke will lead Australia in what will be an emotional first Test against India in Adelaide, after being passed fit to play. Clarke had appeared set to miss the Gabba Test due to his hamstring injury, but the rescheduling of the series has allowed him to play the new opening match.

Australia have confirmed their XI for the Test, which starts on Tuesday, with fast bowler Josh Hazlewood left out and batsman Shaun Marsh also to miss after being called in as an extra squad member on Thursday. Marsh will travel to Brisbane to play in Tuesday's Sheffield Shield round for Western Australia.

Mitchell Johnson gave Clarke some extra room to gather himself for the start of the Test by taking media duty on Tuesday, and spoke of the captain's value. "It's a huge boost to have him back in and playing for us," Johnson said.

"I think with his captaincy and how strong he's been over the last couple of weeks with the tragedy we've had, it's really nice to have him back. He's a strong captain and we need him out there in this tough series.

"He's a strong leader. He has been an aggressive leader. We've always had pretty aggressive fields. He has just grown as a captain and as a person. So to have him in the batting order as well, the amount of runs that he's scored, he's really keen to get out there and score some more for Australia.

"He just has something about him when he's out there as captain. Everyone listens. You're sort of watching him and he just goes about the job really well. He's a huge boost for us in our line-up. I really hope that he can go out there and score a lot of runs for us. We all know that he's really keen to do that. He's a huge part and we're glad that he's back."

Hazlewood has been named 12th man after Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson were preferred for the pace attack, with Mitchell Marsh and Shane Watson offering all-round options. In a touching tribute, Phillip Hughes has been listed as "13th man", while Australia's players will all wear shirts emblazoned with Hughes Test number - 408.

"It's really special. His family, I think that would make them very proud," Johnson said. I'm very proud to be able to wear that number through this Test. We've named him as the 13th man as well. It's all very special."

While admitting there would be considerable emotion early in the day, particularly when the players join the crowd in a 63-second burst of applause for Hughes, Johnson said the players had resolved to push on.

"It's going to be an emotional morning and probably looking at it from our first little part of the game, for me going out there and bowling the first spell might be the most difficult," he said. "Then it might just get into the game a bit more but I think mentally, we've had a few training sessions, the vibe's good.

"Everyone's really keen to get out there and play some cricket now. That's our goal and I guess we're going to wait and see how we all feel because we're all going to feel a little bit different but I'm really looking forward to going out there. It's a good place to play. I know that as a bowling unit, we're sticking together and we're all ready to go."

Australia 1 Chris Rogers, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Steven Smith, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Ryan Harris, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Nathan Lyon.