Australia [Images] captain Ricky Ponting [Images] won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Thursday.

Sourav Ganguly [Images], playing in his last series, was included in the team as the hosts decided to go in with four bowlers, leaving out Munaf Patel [Images], RP Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath and Amit Mishra.

Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] also comes back into the Test side after missing the series in Sri Lanka [Images] earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Australia included uncapped leg spinner Cameron White in their team ahead of off-spinner Jason Krejza. All-rounder Shane Watson, who had a remarkable in India during the Indian Premier League [Images] earlier this year, also gets a place in the eleven.

Sachin Tendulkar [Images] would be hoping to add another world record to his name. The master batsman needs just 77 runs to break Brian Lara's [Images] world record aggregate of 11953 runs.

Teams:

India: Anil Kumble [Images] (captain), Virender Sehwag [Images], Gautam Gambhir [Images], Rahul Dravid [Images], Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (w/k), Harbhajan Singh [Images], Zaheer Khan [Images], Ishant Sharma.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Matthew Hayden [Images], Simon Katich, Michael Clarke [Images], Mike Hussey [Images], Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (w/k), Cameron White, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee [Images], Stuart Clark.