He's back ... as captain? Wednesday was Groundhog Dog for Australia in India. Shane Watson, the vice-captain, sat near the soundproof clear crowd barrier at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, stretching before the team's warm-up session. Pat Howard, the high performance chief, circled the ground, phone pinned to his ear. This could have been Chennai a month ago, before both men left the country and before Australia's ambitions in the subcontinent turned to dust. In between has been enough drama for a four-part mini-series. The latest episode, the back injury threatening to floor Michael Clarke and hand the captaincy to the forgiving and forgiven Watson, hung tantalisingly into Thursday, like any soapie worth its salt. Frequent flyer: Shane Watson has had a busy week but now he is back in the Australian Test team. Clarke did not train on Wednesday at the ground, a short fight through the city's trademark traffic from the metropolis' beating heart, Connaught Place. He appeared briefly during the practice session in the nets but stood at the back, chatting to head coach Mickey Arthur and the other on-tour selector Rod Marsh before retreating to the team room. He had earlier inspected the wicket, which - here's a scoop - is expected to turn like a steering wheel. Clarke continues to receive treatment from the team physiotherapist on his lower back but his failure to train and the awkward way in which he is ambling around points further to him missing Friday's fourth and final Test. It is a dead rubber, so it would not go against logic for the captain simply to sit it out if he was in pain, but that is not how he operates. Even so, planning is already in place for Watson, who returned to the country only 18 hours before Wednesday's session, to take over. He would become Australia's 44th Test captain and spoke at length with Arthur before padding up and reacquainting himself with bat and ball following his time in Sydney. Watson can barely wipe the smile off his face. He has just become a father - he flew home immediately after being suspended for the third Test in Mohali, for the birth of his son - and now he is back in the fold, and quite possibly about to be in charge, as if nothing happened. Howard, too, is back in India, having been here for the first Test and since fallen out, then publicly made up, with Watson. In fact, to an outsider it is all happy families, everyone singing from the same song sheet. The reality is not as simple. A culture shock as sizeable as the one that occurred in Mohali, and its reverberations, does not come along and leave absolutely no residue, particularly when Australia is being lapped on the field, too. It is remarkable that Watson, having huffed and puffed about possibly quitting Test cricket on his way to the airport in Mohali, could, days later, be handed the keys to this stuttering, under-repair vehicle. He had felt hard done by then, as if hung out to dry, but has since reaffirmed his commitment to the team. According to teammates as well, all is as it once was with the vice-captain. "In his own words, he has probably decided to come back with a full focus and we will accept him because he is such a great player and a good leader," opener Ed Cowan said. He is a senior player around the group and it is important those kinds of players are on board because we need those guys for this team to be the best team in the world. Shane is more a lead-by-example kind of fellow in terms of how he prepares. He doesn't leave many stones unturned ... and the way he has performed across all formats ... that is an example in itself. He is a very different leader to Michael, but we're hoping Michael is fine for this Test. He's such a great batsman and we need his runs and his leadership.