Published 19:59 IST, February 2nd 2021
Team India players show great enthusiasm during footvolley session at Chepauk Stadium
India players showed great enthusiasm during their latest team bonding where they were involved in a footvolley session at the Chepauk Stadium ahead of 1st Test
Team India players showed great enthusiasm during their latest team bonding session at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium ahead of the first Test against England that gets underway on Friday. As the players regrouped after quarantine, they decided to involve themselves in a game of footvolley to get into the groove.
'A game of footvolley'
In a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on their official Twitter handle, the players were engaged in warm-up and training activities under the supervision of India's head strength and conditioning coach Nick Webb and Soham Desai after which they decided to have a footvolley session.
In this session, the cricketers were divided into two teams. One team was led by Webb and the other by Desai. Virat Kohli & Co. made the most of this session and all of them were also seen keeping themselves actively involved as well. The video ends with the players heading back to the team bus.
What was the session all about?
Nick Webb said that the players who had returned from Australia a couple of weeks ago hardly had any time to train in the past two weeks and the management wanted to ensure that they made the most of the extra outdoor session available to them.
"The plan was basically just to get the guys out after being stuck in their rooms for six days (completing the mandatory six-day quarantine), being limited to treadmills and bikes for the last three days. So we wanted to get them out, get some fresh air and get the boys moving", he said.
India Vs England: Test series
The four-match Test series will also constitute a major part of the ongoing inaugural ICC World Test Championship. The tour kicks off with the first Test that will be played in Chennai's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. The second Test match will also be played at the same venue between February 13-17. The newly renovated Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad will be contesting the final two games (Feb 24-28) & (March 4-8) respectively.
Both teams head into this series after having registered away Test wins. While Team India created history with a 2-1 win at the Gabba to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia a couple of weeks ago, England handed a 2-0 whitewash to Sri Lanka in their own backyard last week.
Meanwhile, the visitors would be hoping to repeat the heroics of the 2012/13 season where they had registered a 2-1 win in (four-match series) under the leadership of former iconic opener Alastair Cook. That remains England's last Test series win on Indian soil to date.
Kohli on the other hand looks to lead India to a second straight Test series win against England on home soil. At the same time, the four-match Test series will also constitute a major part of the ongoing inaugural ICC World Test Championship.
Updated 19:59 IST, February 2nd 2021