Watch: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane hone their skills in the nets ahead of facing England in Chennai

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Team India are ready to take on England in a full-fledged series, starting from February 5 with the four-match Test series, where the first two Tests will be played in Chennai. The team recently won the four-match Test series by 2-1 against Australia under Ajinkya Rahane. And now, the regular captain Virat Kohli has also returned to the squad who was earlier on paternity leave.

Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane (L) and Virat Kohli.

However, the team including Rahane, Kohli have started their practice for the upcoming Test series. After serving the mandatory quarantine period of six days, Rahane was seen running on Wednesday and he also took part in his first net session. And, he took to Instagram and shared a video of his net session with the caption, “Back to training” where he can be seen playing spinners with ease. Meanwhile, he can also be seen hitting backfoot punches and forward defence shots as well.

However, not only Rahane but Virat Kohli also hit in the nets on Tuesday after serving the mandatory quarantine period. He also took to Instagram and shared posts from his first net session after the break. In the pictures, he can be seen with his front foot defence alongside a clip of his net session. He shared the post with the caption, “Keep your head down and keep working 🇮🇳.”

Kohli had last played in the Adelaide Test against Australia before returning home. However, the third and fourth Test will be played at the newly made Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad from February 24-28 and March 4-8 respectively. After the Test series, a five-match T20I series and a three-match ODI series that will be played in Ahmedabad on March 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 before the series will be shifted to Pune for the ODIs on March 23, 26 and 28.

However, the Test series plays a crucial role for India as it will decide if India could manage to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s. As New Zealand have already qualified, Virat Kohli-led India will have to win at least two Tests against England and have to avoid losing the other two matches as well to make it to the final which will be played from June 18 to 22.

India squad for England Tests 2021: Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-captain), Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Hardik, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur.

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