The funeral of Phillip Hughes will take place on Wednesday with Australia's Test match against India delayed as a result, Cricket Australia announced.

The first Test of India's tour was due to begin on Thursday in Brisbane, but will now be rescheduled.

Hughes, 25, died on Thursday as the result of a catastrophic injury he sustained when struck on the head by a ball during a domestic match, triggering a wave of mourning in Australia and around the world.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said it would have been unreasonable to expect the players to get the four-Test series underway less than 24 hours after Hughes was laid to rest in Macksville, New South Wales.

"Their welfare is our absolute priority. They are grieving and to expect that they could play a high-pressured, five-day Test match the following day is out of the question," he said.

"We appreciate the incredible understanding and support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It has been nothing short of outstanding during these difficult times."

Ticket sales for the match at the Gabba in Brisbane have been suspended and a new date would be set after consultation with the BCCI, broadcasters and stadium officials, Sutherland added.

Australia captain Michael Clarke gave a graphic illustration of the raw emotions of the players when he broke down repeatedly while paying tribute to his friend. Battling to hold back tears, he read out a statement on behalf of the players at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where Hughes suffered his fatal injury on Tuesday.

"Words cannot express the loss we feel as a team right now," Clarke said. "We are going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye.

"He epitomised what the baggy green was about and what it means to us all.

"The world lost one of its great blokes this week and we are all poorer for it."

Clarke said the players had requested that Cricket Australia retire Hughes's one-day international number, 64.

"They agreed. That means so much," he added. "His legacy of trying to improve each and every day will drive us for the rest of our lives. Our dressing room will never be the same. We loved him and always will. Rest in peace bruzzy."

Just two days after Hughes's death an umpire standing in a cricket match in the Israeli city of Ashdod was killed after being struck by a ball. Police said the 60-year-old umpire was taken to hospital in Ashkelon in a critical condition where he later died from his injuries.

One player who witnessed the incident said the umpire, standing at the bowler's end, was struck by the ball in his face after it ricocheted off the stumps from a shot that came straight back down the pitch.