Aussies bat first after pre-match extravaganza

Australia have picked an unchanged XI for the final Test of their tour of India on a morning overshadowed by an extravagant political event featuring the Indian and Australian Prime Ministers in Ahmedabad.

It was a unique start to a Test match, as the two captains waited for PMs Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese to complete a lap of honour of the enormous ground in a vehicle featuring oversized cricket bats and stumps on its rear end.

When the 'bat-mobile' finished its route around the venue, Australia captain Steve Smith – who, along with his counterpart Rohit Sharma, shook hands with Albanese and Modi before play – won the toss and elected to bat first.

Neither team had been permitted to warm up on the ground before play due to the arrival of the political leaders and an ensuing dance performance performed in front of their vantage point at the Adani End of the ground.

Instead, Australia and India completed their warm-up routines in the nets outside the stadium.

The Prime Minsters stood side-by-side with their respective countries' players during the national anthems. Play started on time despite the earlier delay to the toss.

Australia have stuck fat with the side that hit back in Indore with a nine-wicket victory to set the series ledger at 1-2, resisting the temptation to add extra pace bowling to the mix and again going in with three spinners.

Australia's five bowlers – Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc – had quickly marked out their run-ups as soon as they arrived at the ground to get off the ground before the spectacle.

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Kona Bharat (wk), Ravindrasinh Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umeshkumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami

Australia XI: Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Matthew Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon

Green did not even have time to change out of his media polo shirt after the Aussies arrived at the ground at 8am. Fans had been asked to arrive even earlier.

India made just the one change, swapping out paceman Mohammed Siraj for veteran Mohammed Shami.

Hundreds of huge posters featuring the heads of Modi and Albanese are lining the streets of Ahmedabad, while enormous banners featuring the political leaders adorn the outside of the enormous stadium named after Modi.

The slogan '75 years of friendship through cricket' accompanied the posters.

Despite the extensive security arrangements, officials were not able to stop a street dog from running onto the field as multiple guards gave chase.