Australian captain Michael Clarke has said that a potential return to the top of the ICC one-day rankings and getting momentum for the Ashes are the two factors that are driving him to be fit for next month's tour to India.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the subcontinent trip is a bizarre piece of pre-Ashes scheduling that means England will have arrived and completed their first warm-up clash with Western Australia before Australia has finished their Indian commitments.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann will skip next month's tour, and the expectation is the captain will do the same to rest his back before the campaign to regain the urn starts on November 21 at the Gabba, the report said.
Clarke said that Australia was playing the No.1 one-day team in the world and if they beat India convincingly, they could go back to being the No.1 one-day team in the world, adding that it was a good enough reason to go there and play well.
However, he said that every cricketer still wants to make most of every opportunity he gets to play for Australia.
Australia hasn't been No.1 in the ICC's rankings for any format since July 2012, the report added.
Clarke said that he is going to push as far as he could go and try to play in the series.
