Michael Clarke: Is He Ready to Face India in the 1st Test at Adelaide?

Captain Michael Clarke is on course to return to the Australia side for next week's opening Test against India.

The 33-year-old completed two separate training sessions on Saturday, according to Cricket Australia. Clarke batted for more than an hour in the nets before joining the rest of the squad for fielding exercises.

He'll face a more rigorous fitness test on Sunday with a final decision on whether he'll play likely to be taken just before Tuesday's opener.

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The Aussie skipper back where he belongs - in the nets with his teammates https://t.co/b4ViWiJCo1

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 6, 2014"

Brad Haddin will take over the captaincy reins if Clarke fails a fitness test. The veteran wicketkeper-batsman was optimistic about the skipper's chances of returning, though.

Haddin told Cricket Australia: "All signs are that he's going in the right direction and we're like everyone else; we want Michael out there leading our team."

Clarke tweaked his troublesome hamstring against South Africa in Perth last month and missed the rest of the one-day series against the Proteas.

The skipper has suffered from a succession of back and hamstring troubles. Careful management of the problem, however, has meant he has missed just a single Test match through injury.

Haddin hopes that he won't miss a second in Adelaide, adding that Clarke "has been strong for the team for a long time. I think he's a tremendous captain and we want our captain out there playing."

Of course, it's not just Clarke's physical fitness that will be a cause for concern, given the tragic death of Phillip Hughes.

The skipper struggled to keep his emotions in check while delivering a perfectly pitched and highly moving eulogy at his friend's funeral on Wednesday. He stayed on for a private service and cremation ceremony with the Hughes family on Thursday.

There was no shortage of critics of Clarke during the early stages of his tenure as Australian captain. The naysayers said he was too aloof, not tough enough and too interested in fame rather than the best interests of Australian cricket. Even Sachin Tendulkar put the boot in in his recent autobiography.

Those criticisms can be put to bed once and for all. Clarke has shown passion, courage, empathy and emotion in the face of cricket's darkest hour. He has emerged not just as a leader of Australian cricket but of a country trying to come to terms with an inexplicable tragedy.

If he can overcome his hamstring injury, expect Clarke to be leading from the front when the first Test against India begins on Tuesday morning.