Starc ready to roll after T20 stint

Mitchell Starc has played three cricket formats in a fortnight and will now be restricted to net sessions as he plots India's downfall in the four-Test series.

Starc's path to the first Domain Test, which starts next week at the Adelaide Oval, started when he recovered from a tight hamstring to play all three Gillette ODIs against South Africa.

Selectors then told Australia's spearhead to focus on the red ball, leaving Starc out of a Twenty20 squad so he could play in the JLT Sheffield Shield alongside fellow Test quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

NSW's recent Shield clash in Canberra was set to be Starc's final game before the first Test. The left-armer, Hazlewood and Cummins were not to play this week's Shield game in Perth.

But Billy Stanlake's ankle injury prompted a rethink and Starc was catapulted into Australia's XI for Sunday night's T20 at the SCG.

Starc finished with figures of 1-26 but Virat Kohli had the upper hand in the first of many battles between the pair this summer, finishing 61 not out.

Australia vice-captain Alex Carey was thoroughly impressed with the express paceman.

"It was fun standing behind the stumps to him. I've had the pleasure to do it in the ODI series and now in this T20, it's always exciting," Carey told reporters.

"You're always waiting for something to happen and I thought he bowled really well ... he had a real impact."

Carey suggested the 28-year-old will have no problems switching back into red-ball cricket.

"He's played a lot of cricket now. He's a real professional, looks after his body. He'll be fine," he said.

"It's going to be a great summer of Test cricket as well ... we've got some good quicks and Nathan Lyon."

Starc claimed the all-important scalp of man of the series Shikhar Dhawan on Sunday, starting a fightback that gave Australia hope of victory, but failed to conjure the wicket of Kohli in the match's penultimate over.

Starc is expected to test out Steve Smith and David Warner in the SCG nets this week, during which India will play their only tour game at the same venue.

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar