Carey hopes Australia can restrain Kohli in the Tests

In the third and final Twenty20 International, Kohli mastered India's chase of 165 with a superb unbeaten 61. He paced his knock very well, and although Australia were able to pull things back a bit in the death, Kohli – with help from Dhawan (41) early on – had already done the damage.

He helped India level – Australia won the first and the second game was washed out half-way – the three-match series with a six-wicket margin.

With the series done, the focus now moves to the Tests, and a lot of Australia's chances rest on how well they can contain Kohli, who has been in phenomenal form in the longest format, having scored 1063 runs from just 10 matches this calendar year.

"He obviously played really well tonight – he was put under a little bit of pressure towards the end but they started well in the Powerplay and it was hard to peg them back," said Carey.

"We've seen him do that before and he did it again tonight. Hopefully in Tests, it will be a different story – we've got some good pace bowlers and Nathan Lyon. It will be a really good summer of cricket ahead."

Australia haven't had the best of times in T20Is, their last big win in the format coming in February when they defeated England and New Zealand in a tri-series. So Australia felt they did decently holding a side like India to a 1-1 scoreline.

"There were some really positive signs. We don't like losing. There was an opportunity there. We got close but a really good side got them tonight," Carey added.

One of the plusses for Australia is that Mitchell Starc seems to be in good physical condition ahead of the Tests. Coming in as a replacement for Billy Stanlake, he bowled well in the final T20I, and even got the wicket of the in-form Dhawan. He will want to make a mark in the Tests.

"I thought he bowled really well tonight. Shikhar Dhawan obviously got him away for a couple of fours and that happens in T20 cricket but I thought he came into the side and he was really excited to play this game. He hasn't played too many T20 games. I thought he had a real impact," Carey pointed out.

"He's played a lot of cricket now. He's a real professional, looks after his body, come off a Shield game and into a T20 game now. I'm just as excited as you guys to watch him take on India along with Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins and obviously Lyon. He'll be fine."

The first Test is scheduled to begin in Adelaide on 6 December with India to play a four-day warm-up against a Cricket Australia XI in Sydney prior to that.