After a hugely successful home season, the Indian cricket team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni will embark on a tough Australian tour later tonight in search of their first-ever Test series triumph.

The captain Dhoni, coach Duncan Fletcher and the rest of the squad, which wrapped up the five-match ODI series against West Indies last night at the M A Chidambaram stadium here, is expected to fly to Australia by a late night flight.

It may be noted that seven members of the Test squad including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are already in Australia to acclimatise to the conditions Down Under.

The other players already in Australia are: VVS Laxman, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and reserve 'keeper Wriddhiman Saha.

India is scheduled to play four Test matches, beginning from 26 December, at the Melbourne cricket ground, besides two T20s and a triangular ODI series involving Sri Lanka.

The remaining Test matches are going to be held at Sydney (from 3 January), Perth (13 January) and Adelaide (24 January).

Ahead of the Test series, the team is scheduled to play two practise games against CA Chairman's XI to be held between 15-16 December and 19-21 December, respectively.

The Test players who will be leaving along with Dhoni are Virender Sehwag, the vice-captain, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane.