Indian skipper Virat Kohli addressed the pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test against England which starts on Friday. He returns to lead the team in the series after Ajinkya Rahane led India to Test series win over Australia. However, Kohli said that the team’s focus is now on the England series with a place in the World Test Championship up for grabs.

He spoke on a variety of issues concerning the first Test and one of them was on the Indian openers. Virat Kohli said that he is looking forward to Indian openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma giving good starts to the team in the first Test.

Looking Forward To Good Start From Openers: Virat Kohli

“We are looking forward to them (Rohit, Shubman Gill) play all Tests and give us good starts and if you look at the Tests that we won the reason behind was the starts we got in the games,” Kohli said during the pre-match virtual press conference on Thursday.

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He said with the team’s objective to get a big score in the first innings, the openers must give their team a good start.

“In Test cricket that’s a very very important factor, Rohit and Shubman both provided us with that and we are looking forward to more of those starts from them. We are looking forward to good starts from them in all the Test matches,” he added.

Among the other key factors, he touched upon was Rishabh Pant starting as the first-choice wicket-keeper in the first Test.

“Yes, Rishabh (Pant) will start tomorrow. He had a massive impact in Australia and is in a good headspace and we want him to build on this along with all the aspects of his game which will happen with time,” said Kohli during the virtual press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the first Test between India and England is underway in Chennai with the visitors opting to bat first after winning the toss.

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