KL Rahul to start for India if he is fit: Virat Kohli

India’s Test skipper Virat Kohli made it clear ahead of the second Test of ongoing 5-match series between India and England that KL Rahul is India’s first-choice opener in Test cricket alongside Murali Vijay. He has always asked me to go for wickets. “That is the challenge that someone who is coming back from injury has; to tell your mind that you are completely fit”.

In Rahul’s absence, Gambhir played two Tests with scores of 29 and 50 against New Zealand and 20 and 0 against England and Kohli said Gambhir “played really well in different situations”. Now he has recovered and as a protocol, he played a Ranji Trophy game.

He accepted that the first innings didn’t go his way, but that he began to get into rhythm in the second innings when the pitch started to help the spinners a bit.

“Since the (Ranji) match was happening close to Vizag, it was good to have him in the squad, and he is available for selection”, Kumble said candidly. Kumble, however, said India are not focusing on one particular bowler or batsman but on the England team as a whole.

“He [Woakes] is the one we’re looking at because of the amount of overs he has bowled over the last six weeks”. We will have Rahul for the Test. “Maybe a braver person would have set them 240, but I thought it was a fair declaration, especially for the first game of the series”.

“He’s just got a bowling niggle really”.

“Both [Mohammed] Shami and Umesh [Yadav] bowled exceptionally well on that surface”. It is not that they got fifers or completely turned the game around.

“If you look at the only aspect where we probably let ourselves down, it was in the catching”. We have done well in all three departments over the past three and half months that I have been with the team.

Cook defended the decision, “The reason behind it is we did not want to give India a sniff”.

Fast bowler Jimmy Anderson would be itching to take the field against India after missing the first Test but Cook admitted he faced tough competition. It was a good wicket to bat on. We could have been much better on days one and two.

“England are a side we are not going to take for granted”. “I think to find that balance was a revelation”. Thus, Indian batsmen had to play calm and steady and not try to hit unnecessary shots and loose wickets. Despite England’s improvement from their Bangladesh tour, Kohli believed the England spinners never outperformed the Indians. “We will make our strategy according to the pitch and will select the team accordingly”.

“Just because they got more wickets than our spinners doesn’t mean we will be at a loss but that’s what I am saying that we batted 160 overs”.