Welcome to the coverage of the first Test between Australia and India in Adelaide on Thursday.

An Indian team brimming with confidence will aim to finally shed the poor travellers' tag when it takes on a circumspect Australia in what is being perceived as the tourists' best opportunity to win a Test series Down Under in 70 years.

While the narrative remained same during the earlier tours of South Africa (1-2) and England (1-4), Virat Kohli and his men will like to walk the talk as India's tough cycle of away assignment ends with this four-Test series beginning at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

The series is even more important for Kohli as it would also define his legacy as a leader having already established himself as world's premier batsman.

India's past Test record in Australia is quite abysmal. In 44 Tests on Australian soil, they have only managed five wins thus far.

In 70 years and over 11 tours, only two drawn series, under Sunil Gavaskar in 1980-81 and with Sourav Ganguly in charge in 2003-04 is more a reflection of temperament of touring sides over the years rather than quality.

While the idea will be to play aggressive cricket but Indian team management's choice of 12 with both Rohit Sharma and Hanuma Vihari in the mix is an indicator that they have climbed down from their aggressive five-bowler ploy in order to get 20 wickets.

Injured all-rounder Hardik Pandya's absence does upset the balance of the side but getting an Australia side, which is still reeling under the after-effect of the ball tampering scandal with Steve Smith and David Warner serving their respective one-year suspensions.

Rohit Sharma is a prime contender for the extra batsman's slot in Pandya's absence.

He last played Test cricket in South Africa, and had a torrid time, managing only 78 runs in four innings while batting at number five. He is back in the mix, once again on the back of limited-overs' form, and his ability to play horizontal bat shots well.

Tested against the English bowling attack at the Oval, rookie Vihari looked comfortable in scoring his maiden half-century there.

The Indian team management has gone to great lengths trying to explain that the two scorelines aren't necessarily true reflections of the contests, it remains to be seen if the lessons from those two prior tours have been learnt.