Australia and India have confirmed their teams for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur.

Pat Cummins won the toss and, without hesitation, decided that Australia would bat first on a pitch which is dry and already sporting cracks.

Images surfaced on Wednesday of the pitch, which has been prepared differently in some areas to others, but is expected to take plenty of turn, with both teams naming a spin-heavy attack.

For the tourists, a shock revelation has been confirmed with Travis Head dropped from the side for Peter Handscomb. It means both Handscomb and Matt Renshaw are playing for Australia.

It has been confirmed that Todd Murphy will debut, with Scott Boland also playing alongside Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon in the attack, meaning a two pace bowlers, two spin bowlers attack will be used.

It's the first time Australia have played two specialist right-arm off-spin bowlers in decades.

India have handed debutant caps to Suryakuma Yadav - the T20 phenomenon has gripped the world in the shortest format of the game, but will now make his red-ball debut for India, while Srikar Bharat will play as wicket-keeper in the absence of Rishabh Pant, who continued to recover from a car crash suffered earlier this year.

Yadav's debut means Shubhman Gill has also been left out of the side, with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to open the batting.

The duo will play alongside a mostly settled Indian side, with India playing two quicks in Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, while Axar Patel has been picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav as the third spinner, alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Play in Nagpur is scheduled to commence at 3pm (AEDT).

India (XI)

1. Rohit Sharma (c)
2. KL Rahul
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Suryakumar Yadav
6. KS Bharat (wk)
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Axar Patel
10. Mohammed Shami
11. Mohammed Siraj

Australia (XI)

1. David Warner
2. Usman Khawaja
3. Marnus Labuschagne
4. Steve Smith (c)
5. Peter Handscomb
6. Matt Renshaw
7. Alex Carey (wk)
8. Pat Cummins
9. Nathan Lyon
10. Todd Murphy
11. Scott Boland