Australia are battling injuries ahead of the first Test against India, starting December 17 at the Adelaide Oval.

The latest injury concern for the hosts is a huge one as their ace batsman Steve Smith is struggling with a sore back.

According to a Cricbuzz report, Smith picked up the injury while reaching down to pick the ball. The report also suggests that he was late to Tuesday's (December 15) practice session and didn’t bat in the nets at all.

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In fact, Smith only did the warm-ups before walking off with the physio. He looked uncomfortable while going off the field.

It will be an enormous blow for Australia if Smith is ruled out of the Test series opener as they are already without their leading opener David Warner.

Smith was in fabulous form during the ODI series against India, scoring two consecutive centuries in Sydney to script the series win for Australia.

Besides, Will Pucovski suffered concussion after being hit on the head by a bouncer from Kartik Tyagi in the first warm-up game. He won’t be considered for the first Test.

Cameron Green is likely to make his Test debut in Adelaide but even he needs to clear concussion tests. The all-rounder was hit on the head by Jasprit Bumrah while batting in the second warm-up fixture.