India captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli were the focus of the Indian team’s practice session at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur ahead of the first ODI against England of the three-match series.
The first ODI between India and England will be played on February 6, followed by the second match in Cuttack on February 9 and the final match in Ahmedabad on February 12.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sweated it out in the nets and also practiced on center wickets in the open. The 2024-25 season of Tests was miserable for both batters.
Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93, with a best score of 52, while Virat scored a dismal 382 runs in ten games and 19 innings at an average of 22.87, with only a century and fifty each.
Rohit also scored only 3 and 28 in his Ranji Trophy return against Jammu & Kashmir. Virat too struggled in his debut Ranji encounter in 12 years against Railways, hitting only six runs before being stumped by Himanshu Sangwan.
Virat finished the year with only 655 international runs in 23 matches and 32 innings, an average of 21.83, a century, and two fifties. His highest score was 100*.
Rohit Sharma did fine in white-ball cricket as he was prolific in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 title win run. He amassed 257 runs in eight matches at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of 156.70, with three half-centuries in the tournament.
Rohit played just three ODIs last year, all against Sri Lanka, scoring 157 runs at an average of 52.33 and an impressive strike rate of 141.44, including two half-centuries and a top score of 64.
The England ODIs are a good practice for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and BCCI shared a video of Rohit and Kohli practicing in Nagpur. They played all their favorite shots and even improvised some hits as well.
“Gearing up for the #INDvENG ODI series opener..in Ro-Ko style,” BCCI captioned the video.