The Indian team has finally commenced their preparations for the first Test against England scheduled to be commencing on February 5 with their first net session on Tuesday in Chennai. Head coach Ravi Shastri was seen addressing the players who huddled around the coach at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted some pictures of Ravi Shastri giving some pep talk to the players, they tweeted, “Day 1 of our nets session in Chennai and it is Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc who welcomes the group with a rousing address.”

#TeamIndia captain @imVkohli speaks to the boys as our preparations begin.💪 #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/yt8wcwROFF

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 2, 2021

Earlier on Monday, the Indian cricketers managed to take the field for the first time after completing their quarantine and returning negative COVID-19 tests. Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel among others were seen warming up last evening. 

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The second Test of the series will be played at the same venue and it will be commencing on February 13. The last two Tests of the series will be played in Ahmedabad and the BCCI is pondering over the discussion of allowing fans inside the stadia for the three fixtures. 

The second Test will have 50 per cent crowd attendance, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary RS Ramasaamy told news agency ANI on Monday. Talking about the same, Ramasaamy had said, “We have spoken to the BCCI, we will get official approval for 50 per cent fans by today evening.”

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The Tests will be followed by a five-match T20I series – all in Ahmedabad at the new Motera Stadium – and three ODIs in Pune. The England team completed their quarantine as well on Monday and all players returned negative results. They have commenced their training as a group on Tuesday.