India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat in the opening day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide on Thursday.

The Indians won their maiden series in Australia in 2018-19, including victory at the Adelaide Oval, and the hosts are gunning for payback.

"Looks like a nice wicket, nice and hard," said Kohli, who will return home after the Test for the birth of his first child.

"Runs on the board are priceless, especially away from home. We've prepared really well, the boys have had a lot of time in the nets, couple of tour games as well." 

India announced their team on Wednesday, opting for Prithvi Shaw to partner Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order in preference to Shubman Gill, with regular opener Rohit Sharma still regaining fitness after an injury.

Umesh Yadav will be the third seamer alongside Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, while Ravi Ashwin won the race to be their lone spinner and Wriddhiman Saha was preferred ahead of Rishabh Pant to keep wicket.

Australia kept faith with Joe Burns despite a miserable run of form, with Matthew Wade elevated to open alongside him in the absence of the injured David Warner and Will Pucovski.

That made room for young all-rounder Cameron Green to make his debut in the middle order.

"The message for us, as always, is keep things as simple as we possibly can," said Australia captan Tim Paine.  "Happy to bowl first, to be honest."

A limited, socially-distanced, crowd was allowed into the venue to watch on a cool, overcast day.

Australia: Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)