India on Monday named a jumbo 19-man squad for the four match Test series in Australia starting next month even as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was ruled out of the opening match due to injury.

Batsman Virat Kohli will lead the tourists in the first Test in Brisbane from December 4, with Dhoni returning to the helm for the remaining three games, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.

The series opener in Brisbane will be followed by Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. TEST SQUAD Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron.