India vs England 1st Test:Ahead of the first Test match between India and England on Friday, February 5, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has cleared the air around much-talked team composition. There was confusion as in who will open for the Indian team and will Rishabh Pant would be preferred ahead of talented Wriddhiman Saha. 

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Meanwhile, dispelling all doubts, Kohli on Thursday assured a lengthy run for Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as Test openers following their impressive performances in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Test series in Down Under last month. Both Rohit and Gill played a crucial role in the historic Test series win against Australia.  

Gill, who scored 259 runs in three Tests which included two half-centuries, played a match-changing knock of 91 in the fourth innings of the Brisbane Test to put India in the driver’s seat. He missed a well-deserved hundred at The Gabba by nine runs. Rohit, meanwhile, scored 129 runs in two Tests with one half-century. The pair also scored two back-to-back half-century opening stands in the last two Tests which played a pivotal role in India winning the series. 

“We are looking forward to giving Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill a long rope as openers. We look forward to good starts from them in all the Test matches we play,” Kohli said during the pre-match virtual conference ahead of the four-match Test series against England, scheduled to begin on February 5 in Chennai. 

“Rishabh Pant will start (in the first Test). He is in good headspace and he has come along very nicely. He is working hard on all aspects of the game,” Kohli said at the pre-match press conference. 

Swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant will be preferred over the more experienced Wriddhiman Saha in the opening Test of the four-match series against England, Kohli said on Thursday.  

Pant’s belligerence (89 not out) in the last Test in Brisbane propelled his team to an incredible 2-1 series win over Australia recently, coming days after he nearly saw India home with a fine 97 in the third match in Sydney. 

 And skipper Kohli is highly impressed with Pant’s showings. “There is good reason what he did in Australia gives all of us hope going ahead.”