Border Gavaskar Trophy: KL Rahul resumes training in nets for Test series against Australia

Newly-married India vice-captain KL Rahul has resumed batting training in Mumbai ahead of the Test series against Australia. Rahul recently married his long-term girlfriend, Athiya Shetty, and thus missed the white-ball series against New Zealand. Rahul is expected to open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, while Shubman Gill, who scored his maiden Test century, could move up the order if Shreyas Iyer fails to recover from his back injury in time.

Rahul has captained India in seven One-Day Internationals (ODIs), three Tests, and one T20I, with mixed results.He was once regarded as Rohit Sharma's successor across formats, but the emergence of Hardik Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in the team's inaugural season, changed



everything.

The first match of the series will be played on February 9 in Nagpur, with the second Test match taking place at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The four Tests will be critical for India to reach the World Test Championship final for the second time in a row. In 2021, India lost the inaugural WTC Final at Lord's to New Zealand.

The Border-Gavaskar series against Australia will be India's final assignment in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle 2021-23. With India having won both Tests against Bangladesh and Australia defeating South Africa 2-0, the qualification scenario for the final has been made much easier for the Indian team. While nothing is guaranteed, Team India only needs to win two of four matches to advance to the summit clash.