ADELAIDE — Virat Kohli is determined to make his mark as captain of India, if only for one Test as regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni recovers from a thumb injury on the sidelines. Kohli, long regarded heir apparent to 33-year-old Dhoni, confirmed he would lead India into the first Test against Australia in Adelaide starting Tuesday and wasted little time in differentiating himself from the under-pressure wicketkeeper. “I am personally going to go with whatever my gut feel is,” Kohli told reporters at Adelaide Oval Monday. “I'm going to set fields according to what I feel. “So you might see things quite different from what you usually see. “I'm someone who usually goes with what I feel, so it might look funny — but as long as it's effective. “The intent is going to be aggressive and that's something that I play my cricket with and that's certainly something I'm going to try and use in my captaincy as well.” A steely-eyed batsman, the Delhi-born 26-year-old wears heart on his sleeve and presents a stark contrast to the more measured Dhoni, whose outwardly tranquil nature has been seen by Indian pundits as a both a blessing and a curse in pressure situations. After India crumbled to a 3-1 series loss in England, Dhoni's captaincy is under the microscope in Australia, where his team was whitewashed 4-0 on the last tour in 2011-12. India has never won a Test series in Australia but Kohli proved in his rookie season in the side that he had the temperament to thrive on the fast and bouncy wickets Down Under, scoring 75 on a ferocious WACA deck in Perth followed by a defiant 116 in Adelaide. Michael Clarke, meanwhile, was Monday passed fit to lead Australia, with the late Phillip Hughes symbolically named 13th man. Clarke had been in doubt for the series opener starting Tuesday with recurring hamstring problems and in the wake of the heart-wrenching death of his close friend Hughes, which plunged the cricket world into mourning. He was not at the traditional captain's pre-match media conference at the Adelaide Oval, but fast bowler Mitchell Johnson confirmed the skipper would lead Australia in what will be an emotional day. New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said Monday a formal state memorial service had been called off after consulting with the Hughes family and Cricket Australia. A number of tributes are planned for the Test with the Australian players wearing Hughes' Test cap No. 408 on their playing shirts, and black armbands in honor of their former teammate. Before play, the Australian and Indian teams will stand before a large 408 painted on the oval's playing surface as they observe a video tribute, narrated by former Australia Test captain and prominent commentator Richie Benaud. — Agencies
