Australia win toss and choose to bat first against a new-look India team

India and Australia step onto the field for the 4th Test in Sydney

Steven Smith won the toss and decided that Australia will bat first in the fourth Commonwealth Bank Test at Sydney. India have made four changes to the side, and wear a new look on the first occasion Virat Kohli leads the team as full-time captain.

Wriddhiman Saha has replaced the retired MS Dhoni. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma come into the batting order in place of the axed Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara. Bhuvneshwar Kumar replaces Ishant Sharma, who was being touted to be the team’s vice-captain under Virat Kohli. Ishant Sharma has been the most used bowler in the series after Nathan Lyon, and so has justifiably been given a rest for this match which cannot tilt the series decisively.

Mitchell Starc comes in for the injured Mitchell Johnson in the Australian bowling line-up.

Will not back down from any battle: Kohli

"He (Kohli) did a pretty good job for them (in Adelaide)," Smith said of Kohli's captaincy.

"He's quite an emotional character and likes to get involved in a lot of the decisions.

"Hopefully we can close out the series well."

Virat Kohli vowed to not have any let-up in the aggression despite the Sydney Test being the last match of a series already 2-0 in Australia’s favour.

“We are not here to back down from any sort of confrontation or any battles," India’s new Test captain said. “I hope I can be as calm as him but everyone has different styles”, he said when asked about MS Dhoni’s style of leadership.