Team India begin nets session ahead of England Tests

Chennai:  The Indian cricket team on Tuesday began their nets session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium ahead of the four-Test series against England, beginning Friday.

Head coach Ravi Shastri welcomed the entire squad by giving a “rousing speech” and then the entire team hit the nets to prepare for the series.

“Day 1 of our nets session in Chennai and it is head coach Ravi Shastri who welcomes the group with a rousing address,” tweeted BCCI along with the pictures of the session.

Members of both the teams were on Monday cleared to begin their outdoor training after returning negative results in Covid-19 tests.

The Indian cricket team had its first outdoor practice session on Monday evening after completing the six-day mandatory quarantine.

Skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Ishant Sharma joined the rest of the squad which returned from Australia following their memorable win in the Border-Gavaskar series. Kohli was on paternity leave while Ishant was recovering from injury.

Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the final Test in Brisbane due to injury, have also returned to the squad and were seen in the photographs posted on BCCI’s social media handle.

“Out and about at The Chepauk after 6 days of quarantine,” was the caption on the four photographs shared by the BCCI.

India only need to win the Test series against England with a 2-0 margin to seal a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, slated to be played in June at the Lord’s, London.

If India lose one Test against England, they will need to win the other three matches of the series.

England, on the other hand, need to beat India 3-0. Even a 2-2 drawn series will not be enough for England to go past India and finish among the top two on the WTC points table.

(IANS)