[Watch] Fans chant Virat Kohli's name as he comes out to bat in warm-up match against Leicestershire XI
Team India and Virat Kohli are currently competing against Leicestershire XI in a four-day warm-up match at Grace Road ahead of their highly-anticipated rescheduled fifth Test against England.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill got off to decent starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Virat Kohli came into bat at number four.
The crowd couldn't keep calm as the star batter walked out of the pavilion, chanting 'Kohli... Kohli'. The Indian supporters were delighted to see him back in action.
Sony Sports, the official broadcaster for India's tour of England, shared a video of the same on their social media handles. They posted:
"Can't keep calm, the King is here 👑 Always a delight to watch @virat.kohli in action 🤩 #ENGvIND #TeamIndia #SirfSonyPeDikhega #SonySportsNetwork."
While wickets kept falling at the other end, Kohli showed composure and played a steady knock of 69-ball-33. The right-hander couldn't hold on for long, falling to Roman Walker.
During his knock, Kohli also attempted a Joe Root-inspired bat trick. The 33-year-old tried to keep his bat upright on the pitch without supporting it with his hands. A Twitter user shared a clip of the batter trying out the magic trick:
Kohli tried to make his bat stand upright like Root 😠https://t.co/PJh32dsDPH
Virat Kohli was on a cricketing break after this year's Indian Premier League (IPL 2022). He was rested from India's recently colculed five-match home T20I series against South Africa.
Kohli will be aiming to get into some good rhythm before the England Test. A big score in this warm-up fixture could have done wonders for his confidence, but he still has the second innings to make a mark.
Virat Kohli in Test series against England
Virat Kohli led the Indian side in the five-match Test series against England last year. The fifth match of the series was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in the Indian camp India currently lead the series 2-1.
India and England are scheduled to battle it out in the rescheduled fifth Test from July 1 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The two sides will then lock horns in three T20Is and as many ODIs.
India squad for the England Test: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Srikar Bharat (wk)